Chapter One
After 13 years of being a 16 year old trapped in a 25 year old's body a person could tire of his life, and currently as Jacob Black helped Emily set the table for a Pack Dinner that's how he felt. Tired.
Jacob had lived this life far longer than he wanted. He was a werewolf you see but not one like you know, no he was different, he could change on command or by willing himself to do so and, occasionally, anger would release itself and he would go into a different form. The form of a wolf with russet colored, shaggy fur about as tall as a horse and about ten times faster and stronger, he could kill a vampire – and that took skill.
About 12 years ago, Jacob had run away for three or four years trying to escape the brutal feeling of rejection from his best friend and the woman he loved. In the end he had come back, refusing to say where he had gone and what he had done but before that it took him a full month to be able to phase back and another 6 after that were devoted to regaining his ability to not phase when the slightest of anger shook him.
Suddenly, Quil, a fellow werewolf and pack member came through the door pulling along with him his girlfriend – and Emily's niece – Claire. Quil had imprinted on Claire when she was merely a toddler, Claire had grown up around the never-aging young man and they had become a couple less than two months ago but they were already inseparable. That's what happens when you imprint, Jacob reminded himself to keep from glaring at the happy couple. He remembered how he had once explained imprinting: It's like love at first sight, only stronger.
"Good people of Emily's house!" Quil announced and everyone around Jacob stopped working and looked up, which was about four other people. "I bring news from Embry!" He announced again. Seth, a younger werewolf – yet admittedly more competent than Jacob at times – growled annoyed by Quil's standoffish attitude. Claire noticed this and jumped in.
"His cousin's coming tonight, he wants us to set an extra space." She finished for Quil. Claire had grown from the toddling two-year-old Quil had embarrassingly imprinted on to a wonderfully entertaining and beautiful young woman who happened to blush more than anyone Jacob had ever known. More than Bella, Jacob growled to himself at that thought, but no one noticed because Emily was ecstatic.
"Anna's coming?" She exclaimed and Quil nodded. "Oh bless The Third Wife! I haven't seen her in such a long time." Despite her permanent frown she smiled a glowing smile. The frown that would remain to her dying day was due to a group of scars running down the side of her face from when Sam had lost control and – well let's just say that the excuse of a bear mauling her was universally accepted throughout La Push and neighboring towns such as Forks. No, Jacob shook the thought of Forks away too. "Jake, could you put another plate down somewhere and find an extra chair." Jake was too immersed in his thoughts to speak so he just nodded that he would do what she asked and slid the place settings down to make room for another one.
Just after everything was done, Katy Uley – one of the daughters of Sam and Emily – flew down the stairs holding her hair in a perfect ponytail in one hand and in the other she clutched a dark blue ribbon she ran to her mother and held the ribbon out with a pleading look, Emily sighed and tied the ponytail tightly with the ribbon. After her hair was secure Katy flitted around the room, waving hello to everyone individually then running back upstairs.
"She's still not talking?" Claire asked concernedly, Emily nodded sadly staring after her daughter.
Katy had stopped talking two months ago and no one knew why, she was only eleven but when Katy did something, she stuck to it.
"Do you have any idea why?" Claire asked taking a casserole from Emily and placing it in the oven along with three others.
"We're beginning to think it's because of how we treat her." Sam answered entering the now claustrophobic kitchen. A long time ago he had been the pack leader but he had given up his werewolf abilities to grow old with Emily. That's how it works you see, once you stop phasing you age. Now, Jacob was the pack leader much to his discontent. However, despite his hatred for the part, he played it very well – even though there wasn't much trouble when the truth was told.
Then, another Uley girl pounded down the stairs, Meg Uley was the oldest Uley girl and Sam and Emily's first child, there were only two options on how she was conceived – either Sam and Emily had been reckless about a month before their wedding or they had been very busy on their wedding night. No one had cared enough to calculate, but either way Meg was the eldest at barely 13. She bounced over to Claire, who was Meg's secret role model, and peppered her with questions and remarks about how cool Claire's outfit was until Emily shooed her away saying, "If you're not going to help then go back upstairs!" Meg huffed but left the room, not wanting to help prepare enough food to feed an army.
Jacob's watch beeped just as he was putting the extra chair into place at the extra table setting. He stopped it and less than a minute later, Paul came through the door. "Sorry Emily," Jacob said. "I'm going to miss the first part of dinner, but could you make sure I get at least half of one casserole."
"Oh, Jake," Emily apologized. "If I had known you had to run at this time I would have let you finish off the ham in the fridge, I'm sorry!"
"It's okay, I completely forgot about it when I came over here." Jacob said, not minding that Emily had forgotten. Jacob truly didn't like introductions so he was happy that he would miss formally meeting Embry's cousin.
As Jacob left the house he let his thoughts wander back to Embry's mysterious cousin, Anna. The pack had heard worried thoughts about her from Embry's head but nothing to explain the constant worried look on his face whenever he pulled out his cell phone or got a call from his aunt or uncle. He kept the rest of the pack well out of his troubles even though that's what such a fraternity was for.
But since when did Emily know this mysterious Anna and why had she said 'Bless The Third Wife' such a statement among the pack mean to ward off the fear for danger in a person's life. What danger could this cousin of Embry's possibly be in?
Jacob waited until he was safely covered by forest all around him before slipping off his jeans and tucking them into an anklet made for such a thing, and then he let go allowing his wolf self to emerge and take over.
After his patrol, Jacob met Seth on the outside of the woods. "Something's off," Jacob warned. "I can't be sure what it is, doesn't smell like bloodsuckers, but something's wrong." Seth nodded dutifully and ran into forest, but not before stripping himself of his shirt and handing it to Jacob.
"You'll need this," he warned. "Anna blushes worse than Claire! You think she'd never seen topless men before!"
"Maybe she's Amish." Jacob teased before taking the shirt and pulling it over his head.
He entered Emily and Sam's house and found that half a casserole was out on the table with microwave instructions, he followed them and carried them out to the backyard where everyone was gathered around a small fire pit and laughing about something or another. At the sound of the door opening someone, it appeared to be Embry, stood up.
"There he is!" Yes, it was Embry, he boomed loudly at Jacob's entrance, he looked up from trying to focus on the door and the stairs and the plate of casserole all at once. "Anna, this is Jacob Black. Jake, this is my cousin, Anna." Jacob finished stepping down the stairs and let the door close behind him before he looked up to meet the eyes of the girl.
And she was a girl. No more than 15 at the most, but it was hard to tell because when she stood up to greet him she stood no more than 5'2" but the rest of her body was more mature. However, Jacob wouldn't notice these until the next day. At that moment his eyes fixed on her face, it was small and it had a round sharpness to it, even in the dim light he could tell her eyes were a bright green. Her mouth curved upward into a beautiful smile and her cheeks filled with blood as she noticed his long stare. She looked away while saying, "It's nice to meet you, Jacob. I've heard so much about you." Oh how her voice tortured him, he needed to hear more, he needed to hear it speak to him again.
"Oi! Jake! Are you okay?" Quil, being the closest to Jacob, pulled him out of his daydream by stabbing him in the leg with a plastic fork. Jacob shook his head and was brought to the present.
"Wha? Yah, I'm fine." He insisted, sitting down, his eyes never left Anna as she sat down, still looking away from his unwavering gaze. "So," Jacob said trying break the tension of the group. "What have you told her about me?"
"Well, we were just getting to the newborn battle about 13 years ago," Sam explained. "Do you remember? The one with the Cullens and the vampires and Be –"
"I remember." Jacob growled, suddenly able to look away from Anna. He took this as an advantage to stare at his casserole, but suddenly he wasn't hungry.
"Sorry," Sam apologized weakly. "I didn't realize that was still sore."
"It'll always be sore." Jacob admitted roughly, he looked up again to see no one meeting his eyes, no one except Leah who smiled horribly.
"It's been a decade and more!" she insisted. "Cry me a river, build me a bridge and get over it already!"
"Yah?" Jacob shouted defensively. "Let's get some newborns to attack you and crush a whole side of your body, then let's blame it on some motorcycle crash and have some vampire doctor experimentally drug you up." Jacob felt his hand split open for some unknown reason but he continued, not feeling the blood.
"And then, Leah," He spit the name with venom. "Let's replay the whole Sam-Rejection-Scene while you lie helplessly in your bed while the love of your life walks out the door and goes and marries someone else who dares to send you an invitation to the wedding that's held not three months later!" The plate had broken early in the speech and Jacob realized that it was the source of the pain in his hand and the blood trickling between his fingers but he continued to let it go unnoticed because he was now a foot away from Leah who seemed unphased.
"No thanks," she said simply. "It's easier for me if I just watch your heart re-break over and over whenever you think about her."
"Oh," Jacob growled. "It's easier for you? It's easier for you?" he demanded.
"Jacob!" Sam shouted but the voice was far away, it was just Jacob and Leah now.
Leah, however, was still unphased. Jacob's hands, now balled into fists, trembled at his side and he knew how this would end, but he touched back down to reality when Embry and Quil each grabbed an arm and held on securely so that he couldn't phase without a fight.
Jacob sighed and relaxed his tense body so that Quil and Embry let go, but they did not retreat.
"Leah," Quil said in a completely conversational tone. "Get over yourself, no one cares about the petty drama you try to create anymore." Leah looked at him in shock, but Quil ignored this and he and Embry dragged Jacob back to where he had been sitting, Claire was missing and so was the plate, only a few stray noodles from the casserole remained on the ground.
Hesitantly, Jacob looked up to Anna again, she had been sitting to the right of Leah and was now closer to Sam than before, she looked at Jacob with a bewildered stare, not sure if to be afraid or if to pity, and which werewolf to direct the feelings too. She settled on Jacob flashing him a warm, comforting smile when their eyes met and for the first time in 13 years, Jacob truly blushed.
Suddenly, a howl erupted from the forest and Seth appeared struggling to pull the drawstring on his sweats. "I don't know what the hell it is," he gasped out. "But it's fast as hell and probably dangerous."
Claire, suddenly in the doorway from Seth's howl, ran down the stairs and to Quil, latching onto his arm so that he couldn't go anywhere.
"Vampires you think?" Jacob asked Seth.
"I don't know, it doesn't smell like them," Seth said, feeling stupid for not knowing more, Embry started on about how every vampire has a different smell. "It doesn't burn." Seth corrected himself which cut Embry off.
Jacob suddenly looked around as his pack watched him, waiting for orders. Jacob was great at following any instruction but creating it as a weaker point. Luckily, Sam stepped in. "Jake, may I suggest something?" he nodded. "Jake, you have a well-known…predigest for vampires, if it is them you don't want to not be thinking clearly. I suggest you stay here in your wolf form to watch over the pack while they scout the forest." Jake nodded thankfully and turned to his pack.
"Alright, I'll stay here and oversee things, give orders and such. Seth, you and Embry will search more down by the beach, but still keep to the trees. You'll do this because Seth has a sense for what you're looking for." They nodded dutifully. "Paul, Quil and Jared," They each looked up as their names were called. "You'll search the other half of the forest, I'll know if you see anything out of the ordinary and I'll tell you what to do from there." They nodded as well and all six werewolves took off into the forest.
Seconds later, Jacob returned in his wolf-form, he had momentarily forgotten about Anna but suddenly she was all he could think about, the pack's shared brain waves all hooted and jeered except for Embry.
"Do you think you imprinted?" He asked.
"Yes." Was all Jacob could think but that was enough and soon Embry joined in the laughter until he reached his destination then the brain waves were silent except for observations.
Jacob trotted over to Claire, who scowled at him; Sam; Emily; Meg and Katy, who came out when the wolves left; and of course, Anna. She stared in awe at the overgrown wolf. He laid down on the ground next to her and looked up at her expectantly. She reached out to touch him, but recoiled her hand at the last second. Jacob chuckled and nuzzled her hand so that she was petting his head, suddenly she burst out laughing, she leaned down to whisper in his ear.
"Four minutes ago, you were scaring me out of my skin and now I'm petting you. This is insane." He moaned slightly at the sound of her voice – Which Embry shouted at him for – and she took it in response to something she had said and immediately tried to redeem herself.
"No, I mean it's insane in a good way. When you were staring at me earlier I thought something was wrong with me." He couldn't help but notice the trace of sadness in her voice. "And then you went of at Leah like that and, while she deserved it, it scared me." She laughed again. "I'm having a heart to heart with a werewolf and I don't even know if he can understand me. I'm opening up to you more than I open up to my Live Journal." She was now massaging his ears without even realizing it.
"Okay, this is my baby cousin you're talking about here! Please leave the fantasies to a minimum if possible please!" Embry begged, Jacob let his thoughts get louder and then let them drift away and let himself melt under her touch as her hands caressed him in unimaginable ways without even thinking about it. She was just treating him like a normal dog.
"Do you ever feel the desire to chase cars down the street?" Anna asked into his ear suddenly, he chuckled at this and let the thought go through the brain waves, Quil laughed.
"Only silver Volvos." He thought and the others laughed with him including Jacob who barked out a laugh this time.
"I'll take that as a no." she concluded with embarrassment in her voice, she looked up but Jacob kept his head in his paws, his eyes closed. "Where do you think the others went?" she asked in a louder voice, he looked around and saw that it was just the two of them now.
"Anything?" Jacob asked.
"Nope"
"Nothing."
"Nada."
"Zip."
"Zilch."
"Zero."
"Okay, you can go home now. I think dinner's over anyway." Jake allowed.
"Do you want me to come get Anna, or do you want to have alone time? She's staying in Meg's room so I don't need to come get her or anything." Embry asked, Jacob wasn't sure if he was actually going to allow the alone time Jacob so desperately wanted, so he played it safe.
"Would you kill me if I told you that if you interrupted me now I'd most certainly snap your neck?" He asked.
Embry barked a laugh; they were the only two who hadn't phased back yet. "Not at all," He said. "Have fun." And he too was gone.
Jacob rose slowly and Anna seemed disappointed as he bounded for the trees, once phased Jacob didn't think he had ever had so much trouble getting his pants on before in his entire life. He couldn't find the shirt Seth had lent him though, so he went back to Emily's backyard shirtless. Anna was trying to figure out how to put the fire pit out.
"You should really only let professionals deal with that thing, it's very temperamental." Jacob laughed, he pulled Anna away from the pit and back onto the log where she had originally sat, and he sat as close to her as possible without her sitting on him though he would have preferred that much more.
"Heh. Right." Anna blushed and looked away, but Jacob couldn't stand that, his big hand took her face and turned it back towards his. "You're – very warm." She stated and he laughed.
"I'm a good space heater." He said proudly, she snuggled up to him.
"I bet." She agreed. He was startled by this sudden move, but he was not about to push it away so he hesitantly wrapped his arm around her shoulders while she played with his hand absentmindedly. She pressed his palm to hers and laughed at the difference.
"Your hands are so small." Jacob said taking her dainty hand in his and interlacing his fingers through hers.
"To you," She grumbled. "To me they're just fine, thank you very much. Can you imagine how bizarre I'd look with your huge hands?"
He chuckled, "Bizarre? I think not." How could she ever possibly be bizarre? She seemed just perfect in every way. There was no way that anything could ever be found to show a trace of imperfection in Anna.
"Not that I mind or anything," She started, looking away again, but not moving away from him. "But why aren't you wearing a shirt?"
Jacob laughed loudly and hugged Anna to his feverish chest. "I can't find the one Seth made me borrow, I'm so used to not wearing one that I don't really keep track of them anymore."
"Must be hard to shop in convenient stores." She said and Jacob chuckled yet again.
"I never really thought of it that way." He admitted.
They sat together for a long time, all the while Jacob trying to figure out how to bring a up a topic he desperately needed to talk to her about.
"I –" They both started at the same time, they both turned red and looked away, but Jacob couldn't look away for long and neither could Anna.
"You go first." She insisted.
He normally would have fought to hear what she had to say first, but he needed this off his chest and fast. "Do you know about imprinting?" He asked, looking away with blush on his face now. Anna's eyes widened with understanding and she buried her face into his chest out of embarrassment. "I'll take that as a yes." He laughed. "Well," he continued. He knew that she understood, but he wanted to make it official. "I think I've imprinted on you."