"Well, where'd she go?" I heard someone say behind me in a frantic whisper.

"I don't know." Jacob replied.

I smiled and kept running. Looks like I just made me a friend.

"Yes, you do know. Now tell me: which way did she go?" I groaned. It was an alpha voice. Even my new friend couldn't help me with that.

I heard a reluctant sigh. "That way." Jacob said and I assumed he pointed in my direction.

A few moments later I heard the thumping of heavy footfalls behind me.

I paused for a second and considered my next move. And then it hit me.

I began to sprint as fast as I ever have: just to throw them off track. Up ahead I heard a river. Perfect. I ran through it to dilute my scent, making it difficult to near impossible to tack me. The bad thing was, I made a lot of noise so I had to run even father than I wanted. When I was far enough away that I was confidant they wouldn't hear my next move, I jumped, graceful and silent as a cat (yeah, yeah, yeah…), into the nearest tree.

Luckily it was a tall one, and I didn't think that they would look in a tree for a werewolf.

Breathing heavily, but silently, I stood as still as possible until I heard the sound of people running come and go from my spot in the tree.

I let out a sigh of relief and sat back in the crook of two tree branches intersecting. Only instead of there being nothing but air behind me, there was something very solid.

I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, hoping the sensation of something pressed against my back would go away, but when they opened it was still there.

Slowly—ever so slowly—I turned to face what was behind me. Even though I knew what it probably was, it was still quite a shock to see a tall, hot, bare-chested Indian—who looked seriously pissed, but still—behind me.

I jumped away from his bare-chestedness and angry facial expression so fast that I did everyone a favor, you know, except myself.

I fell out of that damn tree.

I closed my eyes and held my breath as I fell. Even though it felt like a really short fall, I knew it wasn't, so maybe it wasn't one of my best ideas to land on my side.

Yeah, can you say, broken arm?

I groaned in pain and banged my head against the ground for a while muttering, "I hate my life, I hate my life, I hate my life…" et cetera et cetera.

I refused to acknowledge the presence of the other wolves until one laid a hand on my non-broken arm.

My eyes opened immediately and I glared at the unknown werewolf, peeling my lips away from my teeth in what I hoped was a vicious snarl.

"She's not human." The wolf concluded as he quickly jumped up and away from me, inching back to his pack faster than one would think 'inching' meant.

"Really?" I asked. "I never knew that. Never ever, ever." I banged my head against the ground once more for good measure before sitting back up and looking around, all the while cradling my right arm.

I was surrounded. The wolves formed a loose, but very—very—substantial ring around me. Personally, I made me feel like a pig being penned in by a bunch of sheep dogs.

Not that I equate myself to a pig often, though.

"What the fuck are you looking at?"

They squirmed uncomfortably at the question. I guess they weren't used to people like me.

Yeah, you know…bitches.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" One of the wolves (OMG they looked alike…) asked. He was one of the tallest and strongest so I presumed him to be the Alpha.

"Well, I'm a girl and I am here because I climbed up a cliff on a beach." I paused. "Yeah, I think that's it."

The man's face turned tomato red (no joke) and he stepped forward, a look of unspeakable anger on his face. He walked over to me and grabbed my left arm in a vise tight grip and hauled me to my feet, forcing me to be only a few inches from his face.

"Who are you?" His voice held the edge of a recently sharpened knife.

I sneered. "Didn't I already tell you that?"

He snarled and threw me to the ground, making me land hard on my right arm.

"Mother freaker!" I cried out as I landed. The man continued walking without even a single glance back.

From behind me, I felt someone else moving: this one coming toward me.

The man whipped around, fast as lightning, a fire kindled in his eyes.

"Don't you dare touch her, Jacob." His voice was tight, as if he was having troubled speaking. It was the first time I noticed his violent shaking.

"Sam, she's hurt—"

"And if she's anything like us, she'll heal." Sam cut in. "No one touches her." The command in his voice came across loud and clear.

Jacob growled in warning.

Sam stalked over to him and grabbed him by his collar, pushing into Jacob's personal space.

"If you disobey me, Jacob," he said, "then I will personally rid us of her."

"Like fuck you will!" I exclaimed.

"Shut up!" Sam yelled. Jacob's growl resounded through the forest around us.

Sam stared at Jacob for a long time before he finally broke down laughing. "God, Jacob!" He boomed breathless. "You just can't choose any of the good girls, can you?"

Moments later, Sam was pushed up against a tree, Jacob keeping a tight grip on him as he talked.

"Sam, you went out with Leah and then left her for her cousin. And I'm the one who can find a 'good girl?'" In actuality, Jacob had whispered it, but we all heard.

Sam pushed him off, and with one last rumbled he said, "Fine. Disobey orders. Just keep your damn imprint in line," before running in the forest to change.

Jacob waited for a long tense moment before kneeling beside me.

"What the hell did I just get myself into?"