Twilight and its characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. All rights remain with her.

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Chapter Ten

Fight

Everything that came next happened in only seconds. I was too slow, too clumsy, too human, to catch every detail.

Jacob was running towards us, his lips peeled back exposing lines of white teeth. The other two men that he was with were shouting at him. But not to stop him. They were egging him on.

Edward fell into a low crouch, his fingertips lightly touching the green grass. He gave a warning growl at Jacob then sprang forward. I cried out, desperately reaching for the hem of Edward's shirt but caught nothing but air.

Jacob's snarl changed into a frightening grin and for one second I was suddenly scared. The smile was all wrong. It was a sickening smirk of pure delirium.

The smile vanished as Jake leaped mid-stride and it seemed like he was going to pass right over Edward. Only there was this tearing sound—a ripping—and Jacob was gone.

Fur exploded into the air. Snarling, barking fur. It tumbled into the grass behind Edward and when it rose I screamed again. It was the wolf, the Kadi-do from the woods. Not the same black one, but a ruddy russet-colored thing that stood towering over Edward.

"Yeah, Jake!" one of the men called from the other end of the meadow.

I heard them faintly, all sounds around me seeming to slip away as I watched the animal snap long, lupine teeth at Edward before breaking into a run straight for him.

Edward's arms were around me in seconds. I was up, lifted into him where my feet barely grazed the ground, and tucked inward, into his chest where I could not see the wolf or the men or the meadow. Only hear the roaring growls from the thing that had been Jacob and the feel of Edward running from it.

"Did you know?" Edward yelled, and at first I didn't register the fact that he was speaking at all. It was a desperate shout...and it was directed at me.

"What?" I cried, trying to lift my head to face him but his hold on me was too strong.

"Did you know that he—"

He cut off as he spun us both around, one arm coming loose from its clutch and clawing at the wolf that had been right behind us.

The Jacob-thing snapped and those long...too long…teeth sank into Edward's hand. There was a terrible scraping noise like fingernails on blackboard—and Edward's hand was ripped from him.

That's when I heard the yelling. A booming war cry coming from our right. I heard the crunching and snap of trees bending to the yell-thing's will as it barreled toward us.

Emmett broke through the trees at startling speed, roaring viscously. His eyes fixed on the Jacob-wolf-thing, which still held Edward's hand in its mouth.

The animal cast the hand to the ground and let out a short howl. I turned to follow the wolf's gaze, to see what it was howling at….but we were running again. Edward had me tightly to him with one arm, the other—the handless one—he held away from us, as if he did not want me to even see it. We broke through the trees this time and Edward glided and darted through them. I struggled against his firm hold, trying to see what was happening to Emmett and the Jacob-thing. I peeked over Edward's bouncing shoulder and saw that there were now two giant wolves in the meadow fighting Emmett. One a light grey and the other a deep brown. But not the russet one. Not the Jacob one.

Edward turned sharply, avoiding a tree, and I heard him curse under his breath. His growling started again; deep in his chest with such ferocity it vibrated against me.

Finally, he swung around, the force of it pushing me harder into his stone chest- I'll break a rib, I thought absently. When I looked up, the russet wolf was there, half-hidden by surrounding trees, only it was too wide and unnatural to blend in.

Somewhere in there, was Jacob. He had split into fur and mass and teeth, but the eyes of the Kadi-do remained the round brown eyes of my friend. My Jacob.

"Stop," I said and felt Edward's body tense at the sound of my voice, "Stop this. Before one of you gets hurt."

"Listen to her, Jacob Black," Edward growled, "Your brothers are losing a battle against only one of mine. You might be stronger than them, but I assure you, you are not as strong as you need to be to take what you want."

The wolf barked and, crazy as it was, it sounded like a laugh. A very cocky, Jacob-like laugh. Then it pawed at the dirt, scraping up leaves and roots with it, and stepped closer.

"Are you really in there, Jake?" I said, and heard the waver of uncertainty in my voice.

The Jacob-thing snorted air through its two huge nostrils in response and lunged for us.

Edward was fast; throwing me from him before Jacob's paws even left the floor. I tumbled hard to the ground, my head and back smacking against a tree. A crack split down my nose and knew it was broken. Warm blood gushed down my lips and chin and I had to tilt my head to keep it from drowning me.

The tumult was all around me. Loud, echoing sounds of branches snapping and cracking, teeth chomping, flesh tearing, and cries from the wolf.

"No!" I tried to shout, but it came out gargled from all the blood. I spat a mouth full of red, metal smelling gunk and almost threw up from the sight of it.

Stop it, Bella. Stop it right now and save their lives. They'll kill each other if you don't.

Steeling myself, I rolled onto my side. Every bone and muscle in my body seemed to scream in protest and I had a sudden déjà vu feeling of when I had fallen off of Jacob's motorcycle. This was worse. I had a broken nose, a mouth full of blood and God-knows what else. I also had some kind of vampire/beast battle of the ex-boyfriends going on mere feet away from me.

Ignoring the fuzzy, lightheaded feeling that was now creeping over me, I lifted myself onto my elbows. I looked around, trying to locate them…trying to find Jacob, to make sure he was still alive.

"Jake," I breathed then spat again. This time there was less blood and it gave me short-lived relief.

There was that scraping sound again—nails on a blackboard—from behind me. And I winced, knowing that something else had been torn from Edward. Then I heard him speak, in short gasps of breath.

"Don't, Jacob. Don't do it. I will have no choice."

A wail now came from the wolf, painful and hollow.

"Stop!" I cried, digging my hands into the earth and pushing myself up to my knees. "Stop!"

Edward appeared next to me, but not with his usual speed. He was on the ground beside me, one hand—the one that was still left—touched lightly to my face. I looked down and saw that he was also missing a leg.

"Edward!"

But he was back up again, crouching over me as the wolf charged us. I ducked my head into my arms to dodge the impact. The wolf smacked into Edward, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

I watched them…Jacob clawing and biting at Edward; Edward holding back the enormous muzzle with controlled force…and realized that Edward was trying not to hurt Jacob. Not unless he had to, anyway. He was only trying to get Jacob away from him, long enough to get me out of here, perhaps. But Jake was attacking to kill. And what Edward had meant when he spoke just before "I will have no choice" was that he wouldn't hold back much longer. He would have no choice but to kill Jacob to end the fight and get me to safety.

Grabbing onto the tree that had broken my nose, I pulled myself up again. There was a sudden swoon of nausea and dizziness but I pushed it away. I knew what I had to do to. I had to get through to the one who was irrational with rage and who would rather die than let the other win.

I had to get Jacob to listen to me.

"Jake!" I called but nothing happened. I took a gulp of breath and called louder to him. Knowing what he wanted. "Jake, I'll go with you. I'll go with you! Just stop fighting!"

The wolf whipped its head to the sound of my voice and those brown Jacob-eyes held mine for the slightest of seconds. Edward used that moment to push the thing off of him.

"Bella, don't," Edward said, making a swipe at the wolf as it sprinted towards me.

If he hadn't already lost a hand and a leg, Edward would have surely made it to me before the wolf. But he was too slow and cried out in anger as Jacob ducked his muzzle under my chest and lifted me onto his own broad, furry back.

The Jacob-thing howled once and turned back to Edward, baring its teeth at him. Edward was closer now, but still too far to make a lunge at Jake.

"Don't go!" Edward called and I saw the fear in his eyes. It seemed to mirror mine, for I was worried too. I didn't know how much of this animal was still my Jacob inside. I just had to trust it. And to trust Edward to stop fighting for me.

"I need you to both be safe," I breathed, kneading my hands into the tough fur and balling my fists around it. "Don't come after me. Please." I felt a sharp pang in my chest as I spoke, "Let me leave this time."

Edward stopped, his eyes heavy and dark, and I knew he was remembering the night he had left me in the woods alone. When he had told me I could not go with him. The memory was poison that stopped him dead in his tracks.

The wolf snorted loudly, again with that caustic Jacob-like sound. Then it swung its giant head to the direction of the meadow and barked once before turning back to Edward, who nodded grimly in return.

It's like they're having a conversation, I thought, and then wondered if Edward could read Jacob's mind when he was inside of the wolf.

Edward's eyes stayed locked on mine as he spoke in a dead, toneless voice.

"Emmett, stand back. Let the shifters heal their wounds." Then to me he added, "Remember what I said, Bella, that I need to be near you."

With that the wolf beneath me lurched and I threw myself against its back to keep from falling. It ran now. Its gait swift and hard. I turned my face, fur bristling against my cheek, and saw Edward standing there looking empty and left behind. I imagined that was how I had once looked. Six months ago when all the light in my life went out.

I cried the entire way. Sobbing into the fur that was between my clenched fists until there was no breath left in me and what came out was only a rattling sound.

The thing under me took no notice. It only ran at its steady speed towards our destination. Although I did not care where it would bring me -where he would bring me—I knew it as if it had all been predetermined. Was this fate too? I wondered. Just as I had been destined to be on the soft green grass of the meadow, was I meant to go with Jacob where Edward and Emmett could not follow? The place where Jacob and I had last been close. His home.

.

.

When the Jacob-thing finally skidded to a halt, I half expected him to crouch down so I could slide off easily, like Emmett had done. But, no, the beast shook me off with such urgency I fell to the ground- taking fistfuls of russet fur with me.

"Ow!" I cried and staggered up to a sitting position, wiping off the dirt that become caked to my face with blood.

Two things happened at once. The Jacob-wolf-bear-beast thing shuddered… a wave rippling down its spine…and Jacob Black in the flesh—and only flesh—was standing in front of me. And a large man with short cropped hair burst from the front door of Jacob's house, leaping over the railing to get to us.

"Jacob!" he called and I recognized him as Sam Uley. He was dressed in denim shorts that hung loosely at his hips. He was barefoot and shirtless and the notion struck me as odd that Sam would be dressed so casually at someone else's house. Then again, he didn't seem to be phased by the fact that I was there, a dirt muddled bloody mess, and Jacob was fully in the nude.

Sam was not able to get another word in before Jacob rounded on him.

"I want you at the border!" Jake barked in a strange commanding voice. It made him sound authoritative and powerful. I noted this, and how Sam was listening, taking orders. I also noticed that Jacob had cropped his hair to the same short style that Sam wore.

He's a Protector now, I remembered.

Jacob continued, "Embry and Paul are almost there. I have Jared on his way now to meet them but I want everyone there and on guard."

Sam nodded obediently and with a side-long glance at me asked, "Was it the dark one?"

"No. Our favorite bloodsucking family is back. And don't waste your breath asking me what you're thinking because I really didn't have a lot of time to sit around and pow-wow with the leeches about the dark one." Jacob's lips curled around his gritted teeth, "I had business to take care of."

Sam's eyes twitched to me.

"I see."

"Just get to the border. Make sure our brothers are healed properly. If you need to, reset any bones. Give Embry a little longer... the big dumb one nearly gutted him. It won't be long before the Cullens try to cross the border. We've got what they want." Jacob's eyes narrowed. "If they break the treaty, it's war. I want those fucking leeches dead."

"No!" I shouted, "Jacob, don't!"

He didn't even look at me. He gave a curt nod to Sam, who stole a final glance in my direction before darting towards the trees…his back rippling.

Then Jake wheeled toward me.

"How long has he been here? Tell me! How long have you and him been—" his teeth mashed together, closing off his question, too enraged to finish it.

"We haven't," I said, hoping this would answer whatever Jacob had wanted to ask, "We're not anything."

Jake cursed loudly, his fists clenching and releasing over and over at his sides. Then he turned his back to me and started walking.

"Wait!" I called, "Stop!"

He spun at this.

"What? What do you want? Let me guess, you want me to call off my pack? To let your bloodsucking boyfriend penetrate our land and steal you out from under me? Well you can kiss that the fuck goodbye. You heard me. I want them dead. I want to light the match myself and watch them turn to ash."

Jacob waited for me to answer, but I said nothing.

"You don't have a fucking clue what's going on, do you? That this runs deeper than before you were even born. Before me, or my father, before any of us. You saw what I am, Bells. You can thank the Cullens for turning me into that thing."

He spat the words at me. Whether or not he meant them to hurt me didn't matter. Because they did. But I willed myself to hold onto one word he had said. Bells. His nickname for me. He had called me Bells, like he had done when he had once loved me.

"And what is that?" I asked, "What are you, Jake? The super-bear? A Protector? Part of Sam's gang?"

He snorted loudly and sneered.

"I'm all of it."

"Than you're a killer too," I said, "Murdering innocent people."

"What?" Jacob growled and he sounded again like the thing in the woods.

"It's in the paper. The super-bears are killing people! Except it's not bears—it's you and your wolf gang! Geez, Jacob, what have you turned into?"

"I haven't killed anyone," he hissed, "But nice to know you see me that way. Guess I'm not the right kind of monster for you, Bells."

Bells again. I held tighter to it. He was in there somewhere. My Jacob.

"I don't care what you are!" I shouted desperately, "Just what you've done. And what you're going to do!"

"I do what I need to do to protect my tribe!" he bellowed. Then he stopped, letting his face fall and the deep crease in his forehead smooth.

And he added "And you. Always you."

His eyes caught mine and for a minute we only looked at each other. The warm sun beat down and was met by a cool breeze coming from the beach. It caught in my hair and whirled it around my face. I didn't bother with brushing it aside. I let it swirl and twist in the wind until it died down.

That moment seemed to last a long time. Jacob's words hanging in the air. I didn't know how to move on from this stretched out moment between us. Where questions surrounded us, unspoken and demanding to be answered.

"Jake," I whispered and reached out to touch him but then stopped, recoiling my hand away and feeling the blood rush to my face. "Jacob…" I repeated, and put a hand up to cover my eyes, "Can you, um, put something on? You're, uh, really naked."

Jake looked stricken at this and looked down at himself as if he had forgotten that he wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing. Then he surprised me with a burst of satisfying laughter.

"You're still the same," he laughed, shaking his head, "The vital facts don't bother you. You know, like, that I can phase into a wolf? But show Bella Swan a naked body and she has to shield her eyes."

He sighed heavily and his shoulders slumped, but he made no move to try to cover his exposed body. He seemed oddly comfortable that way and a small part of me wondered if he spent a lot of time wandering nude these days. Then I winced, thinking that he probably didn't spend his time in human form these days at all.

"You're nose is bleeding again, you know," he said, the anger gone from his voice.

I instantly put my hand to the tip of my nose and felt a wince of pain. Fresh blood trickled onto my fingers.

"Ow."

"Here," Jacob said quietly, "let me fix that."

He moved towards me and I flinched. But Jake only snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Does my naked body bother you that much, Bells?"

I smiled wanly, not wanting to admit that it did. And not for the reason he suspected. But because it brought back memories of his skin against mine. Of warmth and heat and panting against each other in the storm.

I licked my lips.

Jacob approached me and stopped only when he was very close. We were practically toe-to-toe. Then he leaned over –he was so tall now—and put this thumb and forefinger to the sides of my nose.

"Broken, for sure," he murmured, "This is going to hurt, but it's better if it heals the right way instead of all crooked."

I nodded softly. I had forgotten how warm his touch was. It was so different than Edward's perpetual coldness. They were like polar opposites, literally. And now I was feeling long-buried pulls towards each of them.

"Just do it," I whispered and Jake didn't hesitate. A sharp pain shot up my nose and back into my brain with a resounding crack between Jacob's fingers. My eyes welled and I jerked away from him but it was over before I could even cry. Dull soreness spread from my nose to my hairline. I felt tenderly around the spot where Jacob had snapped it, and it felt straighter…not perfect or back to how it had been before…but not broken at least.

Jake was still so close to me. Heat was radiating from his chest to my face and deep inside there was that pull towards him again, making my skin prickle at the thought of it. He was looking down at me, his lips drawn into a tight pout of concentration. I felt his intense stare and was afraid to meet it. What would I find there when I looked up into his deep brown eyes? Anger again? Sadness? As I lifted my eyes to his, they seemed to burn hotter than his skin with something that was not fury or misery. They were…searching. As if he was looking for something that might be inside of me… waiting just for him.

"Jake?" I breathed as his hand moved from my nose to just under my cheek, where he cupped my face.

"I found you," he answered, "I tried to stay away but I ended up finding you."

There was no time to think. His lips pressed to mine with gentle force and I felt his tongue slip between my lips, parting my mouth to let him in. So I did.

He kissed me with those hot lips, brushing his fingertips just under my ear, before wrapping his broad arms around my back and lifting me off of the ground. My muscles ached at the pressure but I didn't care.

Jake pulled me on top of him, shedding my shirt and bra from my body. I felt his hands tug at them and then they were gone. Off somewhere else in another world. I squeezed myself harder to him, flattening my breasts against his bare chest. His heat warmed me from the outside in this time.

He lowered us onto the ground near the side of his house. The grass here was rough and dry and brown. It scratched against my knees as I sat up on Jacob's lap. His lips kissed wet streaks down my neck to the small hollow of my throat. Then his fingers found my hair, combing through it and arching me backwards, pushing my chest into his face. He opened his mouth around my breast and pushed it into his mouth, pulling hard on the nipple as he sucked at it.

I grabbed into his hair—his too short, cropped hair—and pulled his face to mine.

"Just do it," I said. And he responded to it, smiling broadly into my chest while he quickly unbuttoned my corduroys with his hands.

Soon, they too were gone. In a pile on the dry grass with the rest of my clothes. Jake grabbed at my hips, holding them tightly, and lifted me onto him. He was so warm. So familiar. Everything else had changed today. Every part of my world felt upside down. Except for one thing. Except for the way Jacob felt inside me.

Jake moaned and buried his face into my hair, taking gulps of it into his mouth. He cupped my breasts in his hands and held onto them as I pumped my hips in rhythm with his.

Everything felt far away. Our fight, the Kadi-do, Edward and the meadow. I felt like I was suspended in time. Nothing mattered. I could let it all go and just do what I wanted in this moment. Lose myself in it. In Jacob.

I smiled against his ear, and ground my hips against him faster.

"Bells," he gasped and scooped me into his arms, taking me off of him in one movement as he pushed himself to the side. He came, keeping his arms around me and his face in my hair. I felt a familiar pulse under his skin and looked down to see that he was shaking.

"What's happening?" I asked urgently, remembering how he had shaken uncontrollably against me that night in his garage, right before he fell to the floor and puked.

"Shh," Jake ordered, in the same authoritative tone he had used with Sam, "Don't move. I'm not used to...being with you."

He rumbled in my arms and in a minute soothed to stillness. He sighed then, sitting up. But when he did he was unable to look me in the eye.

"You almost changed just now, didn't you?"

"Yea," he said and wrapped his arms around his knees, tucking himself in, "It pulls at me to phase whenever I'm mad or…excited I guess. I get hot and shaky." He cocked a humorless grin. "You know the first time it happened was after you dumped me? After our fight?"

I looked back at him, shocked. I tried to remember the last time we had spoken. I had screamed at him to leave, telling him I didn't love him. And he had been shaking. Yes, I remembered that. He had even split his lip from it. Then he ran off.

And what had Quil said in the woods two weeks later? That he was here at Jacob's house that day when Jake came back from seeing me. He said Jacob didn't look right and that it had frightened Quil. Well, Quil didn't actually admit to being scared, but it was in his voice. Jacob had come back here, shaking with pain, and phased for the first time.

"Did I do this to you then? Is this my fault?"

"Nah," he said, "Would have happened sooner or later. I guess it just took a strong emotion to turn it on. But it was always in there, waiting for the switch. It's in my blood, Bells. Descendents of Ephraim Black—my great grandfather—have the gene and when…" he trailed off.

"When what?" I asked.

"Do you remember what I told you about the Cold Ones?"

Of course I did. He had been the key to my discovery that Edward was a vampire. But to Jake, I only nodded.

"Well, vampires and shifters- werewolves, whatever you want to call us- they're like mortal enemies. We hunt them because they hunt our kind. Humans, I mean. We're Protectors of the tribe, of the pale faces too. This battle runs deep into the Quileute history. So we're born with the gene to fight if their kind ever threatens our people. When they do, sons of the wolf-spirit get the fever and phase. It happened seventy years ago when the Cullens first came here, and when they came back it was all set in motion again. Being with you though, Bells, I was calm and happy. It kept me from phasing. Without you, I had nothing to fight it off."

He turned away from me, facing towards the woods that nestled beside the small red house.

"I should check on them," he said to himself.

"Wait," I said and put my hand on his arm, "just another minute."

I rubbed the skin of his forearm under my fingers, feeling the tight muscle beneath them and their smoothness. Then I stopped, taking his arm and running it over with my hands. Turning it over and then looking up at his chest. Something was wrong.

"You were injured! In the fight! Where are your wounds, Jake?"

He shrugged, "Wolf-thing," he said plainly. His fingers threaded through mine and he clasped my hand inside of his own. "We heal fast."

He paused, his eyes leaving mine for a second. And I wondered how many "wolf-things" there were that he wasn't telling me. I wanted to ask but when he looked back at me, it was with that searching stare again.

"You feel…different, Bells? About me?"

My stomach flipped. This was not the path I wished our conversation to take but it seemed inevitable. Especially since we were both sitting in each other's arms without one scrap of clothing between us.

"I don't know," I admitted.

"You'd know," he said sharply, "For sure you'd know by now. I thought I would too. Thought it would be different if I saw you after…after I went through the change."

"Another wolf-thing?" I asked, attempting to break the sudden intensity with a joke, but it ended up feeling too much like the truth and my heart sank in fear that it was.

"It doesn't matter," he said, dropping my hand, "I guess I can't love you more than I already do." He stood up, wiping the dirt from his legs.

I felt guilt so deep it was in my bones. He still loved me. After everything I had done to him. Before I had been too broken, too needy, to see it. But I do now. And he deserved an explanation…even if I had no idea what to say.

"Jake, what just happened now…it was—"

"Another mistake?" he asked and I felt the hurt in his voice and cringed.

"No."

The answer came so quickly it took me by surprise. But I wasn't lying. This time didn't bring on that terrible sick feeling like the disaster that was Valentine's Day. I felt confused, maybe a little muddled. But not sick, not as though this was wrong. I didn't know why this was different. But it was.

"Not a mistake," I clarified.

Jake raised his eyebrows at me. From inside the house came the sound of a phone ringing. The both of us ignored it. It trilled three times and then stopped abruptly.

"And that means?"

"It means I don't know! I don't know how I feel anymore about anything. I'm getting pulled in so many directions nothing feels real anymore."

Jake frowned; his hands curled in fists, and fixated his eyes on the woods, looking out to them as if waiting for them to speak.

"Then you'll stay here until you know," he said distractedly, "Where it's safe. Away from him."

"Are you really hoping he'll come here and start a war? Because, Jake, I'm not worth it."

"That's up to him, I guess. We'll just have to see how badly he wants you."

"So you're using me as bait, then? That's stupid," I said, "Call off your, uh, pack," the word seemed strange to use, "He won't break the treaty for this. Let me go back and talk to him. Now that-"

"Now that you've fucked me," he spat.

"Jake!"

"What was that, Bella, just now? It was love for me. Just like it was the first time. I already know you want him over me. But you can't just use me for what he can't give you."

"I'm not using you!" I said, "Not this time. This time I wanted you too…it's just that—"

"This time? This time you didn't use me?" he roared, "Care to fucking elaborate Bella?"

"Oh God," I said and covered my face in my hands, "Jake I'm sorry! I never meant to. It was just that…oh God… you brought me back to life after he left. You know? But there was still that one part of me that was gone. This crazy, dead, part of me that was taking over my life. Holding me back from really living. And I thought that…with you…you could—"

"That I could fuck it out of you? Fuck the crazy out of you! Is that it?" he snapped.

"Yes!" I cried, "Exactly that! And I'm sorry for that but it's the truth!"

I put a hand to his shoulder but he shook it off.

"I can't look at you," Jake snarled, putting his hands over his face and pulling at his hair, "I can't get angry near you. Get your clothes on and get in the house!"

I bent to scoop up my scattered clothes when I heard another voice screaming.

"Jacob! Jacob!"

The both of us looked in the direction of the sound. A girl was running towards us calling desperately for Jacob. I threw on my clothes at her approach. I had never seen a girl at Jacob's house before and instantly my stomach sank at the sight of her.

Jacob seemed to recognize her at once. The rippling of his body calmed and he switched into tense alert as he waited for her to come to him.

"What is it?" he asked, his voice regaining that commanding tone.

"I have a message from Sam. Jesus, Jake," she panted, looking from him to me, "I've been trying to call you!"

When she faced me I could clearly see the left side of her face. It was mangled in deep, jagged scars, pulling down on one eye and the side of her mouth.

"Emily," I breathed, recognizing Sam's fiancé from Quil and Embry's description of her after the bear attack.

She gave me a queer look and the turned back to Jacob.

"Listen, Sam says that 'They're here. The treaty is broken.' Oh God, Jake, it's war isn't it?"

Jacob stiffened at the words, his teeth pulling back into a half-snarl, half-grin.

"Watch her," he ordered Emily, "She's not to leave the res." Then he turned without looking at me and sprinted for the woods. A tremor ran down his spine and I saw russet fur explode into the air as he leaped into the cover of the trees.

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A/N: please comment! Comments make my day.