A/N: There's a lot of people (and werewolves and vampires…and others) in this story, even if my main focus is on the werewolves and how they would look to outsiders. That's your warning, folks. I tried to get as many characters from the series in here as I could; there are a lot of tangents.

Chapter 1: The Boogie Monster

I was not an outdoors person.

There was no false modesty in that claim. I didn't like trees (or mud) the way deer didn't like loud noise; usually when someone mentioned hiking I took off in the opposite direction because I was sure that the great outdoors was going to lead to my doom. It wasn't that I disliked getting dirty. I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher—getting dirty was my life. And it wasn't that I was lazy. I wasn't the most physically fit person you could meet but I could walk up a hill without breaking a sweat. Hiking simply did not appeal to me.

But that day I went hiking.

School started the next day. It was my very first year teaching in Forks. The only time I had been away from the town I had been born in was to get the degree that would let me stay there for the rest of my life. So there was no pressure, or anything, but my first day of teaching had to go well because it was what I was going to do for the rest of forever. Sitting around all day had seemed like a silly thing to do, just giving the fear in my belly time to grow into a monstrous creature that I couldn't keep down.

Most of my friends were busy, so when Rina suggested—

"Hold up. Who's Rina?"

"Sabrina? My college roommate. Remember? Blonde, tattooed—"

Jessica always knew who everyone was. It took her a second, but she remembered quickly enough.

"The man-hating hippie?"

"Jess…" I rolled my eyes, but had to admit, "Yes. That one."

"You're telling me a story about her? Ew."

"I'm not. She's barely in the story. She just happened to be there that day. She had come down for the weekend before school started, to keep me distracted. That's why I did want she wanted to do. So everything that happens is sort of her fault, even if she's not important. Except for—you're going to ruin the story if you keep interrupting."

"Sorry. Go on. Just not about her."

Most of my friends were busy, so when Rina suggested going for a hike I agreed. She was from the city (Salem, then Seattle) so she didn't usually have the opportunity to go exploring in a forest and she was looking forward to it. Since I had promised her a weekend of fun and had for the most part failed to deliver I agreed without protest.

That's how I ended up in the forest. I ended up on the forest floor because while all mud looks the same it isn't actually. Sometimes when you step in it your foot gets stuck. Other times your foot kind of slips off of it like there was some kind of natural force field around the earth, forcing your leg in a direction you didn't expect it to go. And when your foot isn't underneath you like you expect you end up toppling over, especially if you're a giant like I am.

And if you're really unlucky as you stumble around the first thing you step on is a branch that breaks underneath your weight so your ankle comes down with a sickening crack.

I didn't cry; I wanted to but I didn't. I just fell over instead.

"If you don't keep it down, you'll scare all the animals away," Rina called over her shoulder. She was crouched down, examining some plant I struggled to identify, not seeming to have noticed my failed battle with the less than great outdoors.

"Sorry."

"Just next time…why are you sitting in the mud?" It was around then that she saw my foot and the unnatural angle it was at. "Are you okay?"

"Not really. No."

Handing me the plant, with instructions not to lose any of it, she set about pulling off my shoe. After wrapping her hands tentatively around my ankle, she began muttering under her breath, trying to figure out how to help me. But no sooner had she made sure it wasn't broken than she was interrupted by the sound of cracking branches.

I looked up and there they were.

At first I thought I was in more pain than I realized, since I was seeing double. But there really were two of them. Though they were both larger than I thought human beings could be—as the tallest woman in every room I entered I was qualified to pass judgment—one was taller than the other. And their jean cutoffs were in slightly different shades and covered in slightly different coloured mud. Two extremely large men from the reservation stood above me with the same broad shoulders, the same dark hair and the same bare feet.

Not that I was looking at their feet. Even with a broken ankle, I was going to take advantage of having working eyesight. Neither seemed to have heard of a shirt, which…thank you Jesus Christ.

Wow.

I didn't think it was possible to paint on muscles like that, let alone actually have them. They were so cut I didn't even feel bad about objectifying them. It would have been a crime not to. Something inside me sat up and howled. Angela Weber had hormones. Who knew? Not me.

"Everything okay here?" the one in the darker jeans said.

"Fine," Rina snapped. "We're fine."

"She doesn't look fine," the other one said. "She looks like she just fell and broke her ankle in the middle of nowhere with no one to help her."

"We're fine," she repeated. She didn't like being questioned, especially when she could help me better than they could.

The taller one seemed to realize things were escalating too quickly because he put his hands up and took a step back. The smile on his face was hard to resist as he talked Rina down. "Hey, we didn't mean any harm. We just wanted to make sure everyone was okay because it sounded like your friend was hurt. We're just here to help."

"Please let us help?" The other man sighed. "Seth won't let us leave until we do."

"Shut up, Embry."

"What? It's true."

"Rina?" I said softly to the woman who hadn't moved. "Rina, we might as well let them help."

She nodded; she could tell their intentions were genuine even if their presence was throwing her off balance.

"What can you do?"

"Just let us check it out, see if it's broken. Then we'll help you get of here," the one called Seth answered.

"They always appreciate Nurse Seth's excellent bedside manner."

Seth rolled his eyes at his friend before taking Rina's place, crouching by my ankle. He was even bigger up close, the biggest man I had ever seen and the fear I hadn't felt before began to creep up on me. I tried to keep it at bay—it wasn't fair, after all—and his reassuring smile helped a bit.

"Are you really a nurse?" I asked as he pulled off my sock. Despite how large his hands were his touch was gentle. It surprised me and I didn't like how it surprised me. I wasn't usually so judgmental.

"Barely," he said with a shrug. "But I'm really good with broken-slash-sprained-slash-bruised ankles-slash-wrists-slash-arms etcetera etcetera. Kind of my specialty."

He said it all without taking a breath. It was impressive, it you liked that sort of thing.

"And he pops dislocated limbs in like an expert," the other one said. When I glanced up, it was to see him smiling at his friend, the first smile I had seen on him. It made him look a lot friendlier. Much nicer. The kind of nice that made me relax just a fraction more. And maybe smile back.

"Well?" Rina demanded. "How bad is it?"

"I'm Seth Clearwater," was all the first said. To me. "And that's Embry. By the way."

"Angela Weber." Since she wouldn't have appreciated it, I didn't volunteer Rina's name. "So how is it?"

"Just sprained. You got lucky—a few days of hobbling and you'll be back to normal. You don't even really need to go to a doctor, if you don't want. I just don't recommend walking out of here."

"Darn. I knew I should have brought my broom with me. Guess I'm stuck teleporting."

Both of them laughed. When they laughed you could tell they did it often. When they laughed I stopped being scared of them, all at once, even if their voices were deep and their laughter boomed through the quiet forest.

"Seth'll carry you," Embry promised.

"I carried the last five," Seth said as he handed me my shoe and sock.

"You're taller."

"You don't think you can lift her?" Being tall meant I was heavy, even if they had the muscles of guys who cared about nothing besides how much they could lift. "Or you just scared of the injured chick?"

The things that determine your fate are surprising in how ordinary they are.

"Shut up, Seth."

But I think he blushed. It was kind of endearing. That's why I was smiling when he glanced at me. He was still looking at me when Seth just took off.

"Kid—! Stupid brat," Embry muttered. But he ignored the laughter coming from the trees and came over to me. "Sorry about that. He's got all the manners of an untrained dog."

"He got me my very own escort out of here. I'm not too mad."

He coughed nervously then crouched right beside me. Rina was glaring, disinclined to humour people, but I didn't mind keeping him around for a moment longer. "Put your arm around my neck and hang onto the shoe, okay?"

Whatever he was doing in the forest, it must have been exhausting because he was radiating heat. It was a bit like touching fire. Or like being in a sauna. There was something relaxing about the heat of him.

"Sure. Are you—eek!"

As I dangled in his arms, he started laughing. "What was that noise?"

"You startled me. I didn't…"

He picked me up like I was nothing. No one would ever describe me as petite, but Embry didn't even seem to notice, cradling me in his arms like I was a child. They were very nice arms, bigger than both my fists put together—which would have been a very like childlike observation, if my next thought hadn't been about how nice they felt wrapped around me and how much nicer they would feel if I could just run my hands over them for a while.

"Sorry. But I did warn you."

"You did," I agreed, leaning my head against his shoulder. It was little too intimate considering I had just met him but he was warmer than anything I had ever felt. It was kind of putting me to sleep. It also helped me to ignore the throbbing in my ankle. He didn't seem to mind. "Thank you. If I get too heavy—"

"You won't. This is pretty easy for us. So where am I heading?"

We told him where her car was and he took off through the trees.

"This isn't the way we came," Rina spat. Her frustration was understandable because Embry wasn't sticking to the path, just charging through the forest. And since she didn't have her very own half-naked manservant, she was struggling along in his wake.

"This is faster. Trust me."

"Are you a park ranger or something?" I asked.

I swear he blushed.

"Nah. We just…"

Rina volunteered: "Are having an illicit affair? Is that why the two of you were so sweaty?"

Considering how many hours Rina could complain for when someone made judgments about her sexuality just because of the way she dressed (and the lifestyle she lived), she was awfully cavalier about making judgments about other people.

"Just call her a bitch and get it over with, Ang."

"She's not a…I thought you were going to be quiet?"

"I am. I didn't even say anything about you playing down the whole having Prince Charming sweep you off your feet thing."

"Because—you're ruining the story, Jess."

"Sorry."

Embry was more diplomatic, though he didn't make much sense. "I'm not pale or tortured enough for the kid. Though the last guy Seth carried out of here might give Eddie some competition—he was a little too grateful."

"So you guys carry people out of here often?"

"It's better than having someone coming around to pick up the bodies."

"I knew I didn't like the forest."

He laughed and I was pretty sure he was staring down my shirt (which was not very Prince Charming like behaviour, if you asked me). There was nothing I could do to cover up, not without letting go of his neck and I didn't want to risk it, in case it set him off balance and I ended up falling down again, breaking my other ankle. Also, I liked having my arms around his neck.

"So why were you out here?" Rina asked.

"We were…" He sighed, then said, like a child trying desperately to recall the speech he had only memorized moments before at an assembly he didn't want to go to in the first place, "It's a Quileute thing. Not something we feel comfortable discussing with outsiders."

Now I was sure he was blushing.

"If you won't tell us, we won't tell you," I just said.

"Please. Next time you want herbal medicine, just go to the drug store."

"I could help her ten times faster than any pharmacy," Rina boasted.

Though if she was too angry at me for trying to make friends I would be starting my very new job chasing around little children while unable to run around. It was like a nightmare come to life.

"How bad do you think my ankle will be?"

"I have no idea how long a hu—people heal differently. If Seth said it's just sprained you'll be able to walk on it. Just wrap it up tight, take some drugs and you'll be fine."

"Good idea," Rina agreed. Her sarcasm was unwelcome. "Talk to four year olds while stoned."

"I meant Tylenol. You've got kids?"

It was kind of flattering how disappointed he sounded just then.

"I teach. Or I was supposed to before I ended up maimed for life."

"Oh." But the smile was back and his eyes were yet again not on the path. If I hadn't been so comfortable I might have objected. "Cool."

"Yeah. Listen," I whispered, "She doesn't mean—"

"Yes, I do," Rina interrupted.

"Relax," Embry assured me. "My boss, well, one of them, she eats little wannabes like your friend for breakfast. I put up with a real bitch all the time—your friend doesn't even come close. Not that—sorry. Your friend isn't—ignore me."

"She really likes hiking. She's just disappointed we didn't get to go further."

"Probably a good idea you guys didn't get any further. You never know what you're going to find in the woods."

We spent the rest of the disappointingly short hike back to my car discussing all the things that could be lurking behind trees that might get me. Devising ways to escape the lions and tigers and bears made the time pass far too quickly. Suddenly Rina was telling him to put me in the front seat of her car.

"Thank you," I made sure to say. "Hold on. After everything you did—"

"Just thank me. This is a community service. No payment required."

"Are you sure there's nothing I can give you?"

I was making myself blush, gazing up at him from the front seat as he stood beside the open door.

"Well, if you really wanted, buy a souvenir of your trip on your way out. Otherwise, just make sure you don't let the monsters get you next time you're helpless in the forest."

"I wasn't helpless," I insisted as he shut the door.

"Sure."

"I wasn't. I could have fought off everyone, from dragons to the Big Bad Wolf himself."

His teeth were almost blindingly white against his dark skin when he smiled, the sort of predatory smile I wasn't used to having directed at me. My heart was hammering a little bit more than it should have as he warned me: "He'd eat you alive."

But that didn't sound so bad.