Taylor

I woke to the sound of wind whistling in my ears, and I became aware of my surroundings. Seth was carrying me bridal style in human form while he ran with wolf speed. My face was against his bare chest, giving me warmth, filling my nose with his delicious scent and healing my wariness. I remembered what had happened: I'd almost been eaten for lunch.

Seth stopped and set me down on my feet. I was still attempting to hold up my own weight when Seth trapped me in a bear hug. I wrapped my arms around his neck and let relief wash over me. Seth made everything better. We wordlessly embraced for a while, and I wasn't complaining, but what was touching my thigh? I gasped with realization and turned as red as a fire truck.

"Uh, Seth," I pulled away from him and looked up at the sky, "you're naked."

"Shit." He muttered. I heard him fiddle with the belt that tied his shorts to his leg while in wolf form and the rustling of fabric as he pulled them on. He laughed. "Sorry." He grinned sheepishly down at me.

I nodded, and then looked for Renesmee. I spotted her on a porch next to a fully clothed Jacob. We'd made it to Emily's.

Wait a hot second.

"What the hell just happened?" I questioned.

"We're about to find out, come on!" Seth took my hand in his and led me into the cottage.

The majority of the pack was there, having their own conversations. Renesmee sat on the couch, so I went and sat next to her. She grabbed my forearm and her voice filled my head. 'I heard what you said. Don't think you're getting off easy. We'll be having a major girl talk when we get home.' I withdrew my hand confused. What had I said?

Just then, Sam, Brady, Paul and Collin burst through the door."We lost them." Sam said grimly.

"But the wolf's injured; they can't be far." Paul smiled smugly.

I gasped. "That was you? Man, you kicked some serious butt!"

"Hell yeah, I did!" Paul winked.

"What did they want?" Emily said as she emerged from the kitchen.

Renesmee shrugged. "They wanted to eat us."

"Fine by me." Leah muttered from across the room. I sent a glare her way.

"The wolf too?" Sam questioned.

I raised my hand slightly. "His name's Terrance." I chirped.

Sam sighed and looked at me warily. "Terrance too?"

Ness's brows knit together in thought. "Yes, she ordered him to, like he was under her command…" I shuddered at the memory; 'Terrance, attack,' her beautiful voice had instructed. "Before that she scratched him." I remembered.

"Were they partners or enemies, I don't get it?" Sam said confused.

"No, she scratched him like someone would scratch a dog, like an imprint could do to their wolf." I explained.

Jared gasped. "They're mates."

"A werewolf and a vampire as mates… Is that even possible?" Embry questioned.

"Uh, hello?" Renesmee looked at him in disbelief.

"Yeah, Nessie's a vamp and we're just fine!" Jacob winked at her, earning a giggle from Ness and a groan from almost everyone else.

"But she's only half vampire." Sam said. "It's different."

"Well, apparently it's possible." I crossed my arms. "Would you like to go ask them so they can clarify it themselves?"

Sam face looked as if though he was sucking on a lemon, "I believe you, I just don't want to. That means we're going to have to be extra cautious."

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, you know," Quil intervened, "wolves get majorly protective over their mates."

"That's news to me." I shrugged.

"What? Seth, man, you need to learn how to treat your girl!" Embry said shaking his head.

Seth turned red and scoffed. "What, I-… Look, Tay… Taylor and I…"

A gasp came from the far left of me and I heard footsteps, then the back door slammed shut, but I just shrugged it off.

"Whatever," Jacob interrupted Seth's babbling, "They get extremely protective, okay? So if we take out the bloodsucker, which we can easily do, Terry will be seriously pissed and he'll come after us which is bad because we've never dealt with any other types of wolves before and we don't know what he's capable of."

My brows furrowed. "So what do we do?"

"You stay safe at home and out of the woods. We will stay alert and stick to our regular patrol shifts."

Seth made a 'time-out' signal with his hands. "Hold on a second, we can't just leave them alone and unprotected; they know their scents." He pointed at me, "Which is beautiful by the way, don't ever change. You're mine, and mine only. If any other guy tries to even come within a five foot radius of you I'll rip off his arms."

I chuckled at his ramble to make up for Embry's comment. "A little late for that, don't you think?"

"Worth a shot!" He grinned goofily.

"Seth wants to get it in." I heard Embry mutter and all the boys snickered. Although they teased Seth and not me, my cheeks blazed. Jacob sighed as Seth pleaded him with his eyes. "He's right. We'll have to have extra shifts and-"

"What about the Cullen's? Don't they get back tomorrow?" Brady interrupted.

"Actually, my dad sent me a text this morning from Alaska saying that they're visiting with the Denali's and won't be back for another week. I didn't mention it earlier because I didn't think it was important, then we almost got eaten, and yeah…" Renesmee smiled sheepishly.

"It's fine. We can handle this on our own." Paul stated.

"Alright, we'll stick to our regular shifts." Jake turned to Ness and I, "Seth and I will stay with you two, but when we have our shift you'll be alone for two hours tops, think you can handle that?" We nodded. I was afraid I was going to see less of Seth more than the vamp and her wolf boyfriend. I could manage not being with him for a few hours, though.

Seth seemed to like the plan as well by the way he nodded his head so enthusiastically that he looked like a bobble-head. He caught me looking and smiled tentatively, thinking I was actually angry over our little squabble earlier. I blew him a kiss and he bit his lip in response. Damn. Did he not know the effect that had on me?

"Gross, they're getting all lovey-dovey. Can the meeting be over now?" Embry begged.

The boys chuckled and Jacob dismissed us. Everyone poured out of the cottage, taking off for patrol or social activities. I was walking on the grass with Seth when I was grabbed by the shoulder and spun around to the face of a furious Leah.

"You're his imprint?" She spat.

Seth wrapped his arm around my shoulder protectively. "Yeah, she is, Leah. Deal with it."

Several emotions flickered across Leah's face: anger, confusion, and anger again. She looked so mad I thought she was going to punch me, but she balled her fists, stomped her foot and stormed off.

"Wow, I thought girls only did that in movies." Seth chuckled and kissed my cheek, "I'll be right back." He sped off into the woods and returned seconds later as a sandy brown wolf. I climbed onto him and we were back at the Cullen's faster than you could say "Leah has issues."