I've FINALLY complete Chapter Ten! This is an important chapter, so it took me some time (and more than one try, honestly) to get it right. But I hope y'all like it!

As always, thank you to everyone who's been reading, adding this story to your alerts and favorites, and ESPECIALLY thank you to everyone who has reviewed! You make me so incredibly happy! As for my next story: I was tinkering with several ideas, but I think I've finally found one that's sticking...and it's Jacob/OC! The writing is flowing so well (though I don't have A LOT of it done, since I've been trying to focus on completing this story) and I am so excited to share it with you all when the time comes! Oh, and now that I'm talking about it, do any of you have really good recs for Jacob/OC stories? I can't seem to find enough of them, and I enjoy reading them so much. Please let me know!

Now, for Chapter Ten. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: The Twilight series belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Not me. *sigh*

Chapter Ten

Sam's POV

Though we had an idea on how to handle the situation, there were still so many uncertainties. Above everything else, I just wanted my sister to be okay. It would take time and patience. I knew that. But as long as the end result was Kinley living a full and happy life, I would deal. I tried telling myself that repeatedly as Emily and I drove over to the school to pick her up, but my body was racing with anxiety regardless.

I'd planned on being way early—first one in the parking lot, basically pacing my ass off waiting for the school day to end already. With the newfound information and excessive amount of time in my wolf form, however, we were actually running a little late. I hated it. Was she waiting for us? Was she upset? Did she think we weren't going to come back? I didn't want any of those thoughts to even enter her head, let alone become worries simply because I sucked at keeping track of time.

When we got there, the place was full of movement. Parents and children walking to and from cars, people leaving, people waiting. Emily tried to convince me to let her hop out and go get Kinley while I waited in the car so we didn't have to park, but there was no way that was happening. So instead I made my own parking space next to a dumpster at the edge of the lot. If anyone had a problem with it, they could kiss my ass. I would only be gone for a minute or two.

If Emily were anyone else, I probably would've been annoyed at having to keep pace with her. I wanted to get to Kinley faster and Em kept a calm stride. She was the mature one, obviously, but that didn't mean I had to particularly like it.

Finally we made it to the door of the school where it appeared children were exiting. I didn't really know how pick-up worked. Were they released by class? Had Kinley already been released but forced to go back inside because we were late? Emily, smart woman she was, stepped up to one of the ladies who seemed to be keeping track of the flow and asked.

The woman's brow furrowed. "Kinley Uley? She's a young one, yes? Just started today?"

Em nodded with a cautious smile. "That would be her."

Now a frown accompanied the woman's lowered brow. "She's already been picked up. Are you sure you were supposed to be the one to get her today?"

Both Emily and I froze. Are you sure you were supposed to be the one to get her today? Of course we were sure. We were her guardians. The only people the school should have been letting her fucking leave with. She's already been picked up. Not possible. Nope. Not possible at all. We. Were. Her. Guardians.

"What?" I snarled.

The woman's eyes widened and she took a step back. "Sir, I—"

Emily moved next to me and placed a hand on my arm. "We weren't expecting anyone else to pick her up today. Do you remember what the person looked like? Maybe we got wires crossed somewhere." She sounded so calm about this. How was she not freaking the fuck out? No wires had been crossed. If someone else picked Kinley up, then Kinley had been—

Oh shit.

Oh. Shit.

Emily's hand squeezed my arm, hard.

The woman nodded in understanding. As if someone randomly picking up a child was common. "He was a man, I'd guess in his late thirties. About a head shorter than you," she said, pointing at me and I had to restrain myself from snarling at her again, "with dirty blonde hair. He seemed friendly; he was smiling. And the girl looked like she knew him."

My blood ran cold.

Late thirties, dirty blonde, seemed like she knew him…

I hadn't seen a picture of him, but there had been a basic description in his file. How in the fucking world did he know where Kinley was? And that she was starting school today? And...shit, anything?

There were so many questions but I gave up asking them because he had her. He'd snatched her up right outside her goddamn school.

My body began shaking and I knew I wasn't going to be able to hold this form for long.

Emily clearly knew it, too, because she thanked the woman quickly before dragging me away, back toward the dumpster we were parked next to. There was no way I could get in that car with her, though. I was too unstable. Again, Emily knew. Once we were beside the driver's door she reached into my pocket for my keys. I was too furious to even make a sly comment about her digging in my pants.

Keys in her hand now, she met my eyes. Her gaze was worried but also determined. Focused. She wasn't allowing herself to freak the fuck out, but I could tell she wanted to. "Go shift and run. Call a meeting for everyone at our house, and we'll figure out what to do."

"I know what to do," I said, a growl lacing my tone. "Kill him."

She shook her head. "You'd have to find him first. So you need to be able to make a plan, an actual plan, and track him. Therefore, meeting. Our place. As soon as you all can hold human form. Okay?"

I wanted to say no. We could handle it in our wolf forms. But she shook her head again before I could say a single word about it. "Let me be included. Please."

Well, shit. As if I could deny her anything, especially when she looked so distraught. Blowing out a long breath, I nodded. "Alright. As soon as we can manage, we'll be there."

She gave a feeble smile as she opened the truck door. Time to go.

Pausing only to drop a quick kiss on her cheek, I sprinted toward the trees. The moment I had what could pass as enough coverage, I began stripping. I'd barely gotten my pants off by the time I was changing forms—I hadn't had the chance to tie my pants around my ankle or store my clothes correctly, but whatever. They could be collected later if they were still there, and if they weren't who fucking cared?

I raced through the trees toward home, a howl piercing the air as my paws pounded the ground.

Embry's POV

I'd been in the midst of raiding Sam and Emily's fridge when Sam's howl broke the air. With the sound of it, I dropped what I was doing—almost literally, I barely took the time to place my sandwich ingredients on the counter—and sprinted out the door. My mind was all over the place but, as was my new normal, they kept returning to one thing.

Kinley.

He'd been going with Emily to pick her up. Did something happen to her? Had a vampire slipped onto the rez somehow and gotten near her? There were literally no reasons crossing my mind that Sam would howl right now, and I was practically frantic. On the brightside, that made my shift easy. My body was already trembling to the point that I likely blurred to the human eye.

In my wolf form, I wasted no time running toward the meeting place Sam's mind was blasting out to us. I tried to glance around it to see what was wrong but got nothing. He has his mind locked tight and would share with us all at once.

When I made it to the small clearing, Paul and Jared were already there. Their eyes were worried, but they were also grim. We all knew this was going to be bad.

Only a couple of minutes later, the entire pack was there, Sam's wolf form pacing through the middle of the circle we made. All eyes were on him, set and ready to deal with the threat that was no doubt upon us.

What he said, however, wasn't anything close to what we were expecting.

"Kinley's been kidnapped."

There was a moment of shocked silent in the pack mind—then it exploded with disbelief and questions. Sam wasn't having any of that and shut it down immediately.

"SILENCE!" A growl was working its way out of him, coming from deep within his gut. His entire body vibrated with it. "Look in my mind, see what I found out earlier. But do it quick so we can move the fuck on. And shut up while you do it."

And then his mind became an open book with the files he'd received from Kinley's social worker that morning at the forefront. I focused on keeping my mind to myself because I already knew it all. I'd seen it with my own two eyes, and perusing it again now through Sam's mind would only get me worked up. Since I was already off kilter because Kinley had been kidnapped—my breathing faltered as the reality of Sam's statement hit me.

Kidnapped. Holy fuck.

"Embry," Sam barked, making me look at him. "Keep it together." The three, firm words were an order, but one I was grateful for. Panicking and going off on a rampage right now, which is exactly what my instincts were sending me to do, would not do anything to help my little imprint.

My imprint. She was so little. And someone had taken her. Had she tried to run away? To fight back? Such a small thing, no matter how hard she'd fought it couldn't have been enough. Sadness pressed into my stomach, but I ignored it. Sam was closing his mind back down again so I focused on him, ready to hear what he had to say. Surely he had some kind of plan in mind to get my girl back.

"That sick fuck took her. Picked her up from school today before Emily and I got there, as if he had a goddamn right to be anywhere near her. Now we have to get her back." Sam paused as a trickle of fury moved through the pack. "Calm yourselves enough to hold human form and shift. We're having a meeting at my house." And just like that, he was human again himself, striding toward where he'd said was going to be out meeting place—his house.

How were we supposed to make those plans in anything but our wolf forms? This whole thing was horrendous; it'd be hard enough to keep attentive to the topic at hand as it was, but to have to hold human form inside Sam's house? How?

But the others were doing it. The first to shift and follow Sam was, surprisingly, Paul. His face was set in a scowl and his eyes were blazing, but he was heading in the right direction, pausing only to grab some shorts on his way.

Then it was Jared.

Then Jacob.

Leah.

Collin and Brady.

Seth…

I was last to pull myself together, and I hated myself for it. All those other times I managed to be the calm one, the pack member with a level head, and now—shit, now—I had trouble? Ridiculous.

I refused to dwell on it for too long, however, as I ran on two human feet toward Sam and Emily's place. I barely remembered to snatch up a pair of shorts from a spot close to their house before striding up to the door and letting myself inside. Everyone was scattered around the kitchen. The food I'd taken out earlier was still on the counter. Then again, it wasn't all that surprising once I caught a glimpse of Emily, positively fuming in her place next to Sam. No way had she settled down enough to clean anything up since she'd returned home.

Seeing me finally taking my place amongst the pack, Sam called our attention. "Alright, listen." His firm tone brokered no room for disobedience. Not now. "You've been given a lot of new information. A lot to process. But I need you to back up and focus on the most important aspect of it all—Kinley has been kidnapped by that man." He spat the last two words like they tasted dirty. They probably did.

"We're not reporting it to the police because if we do that, then it'll be harder to get away with ripping his fucking throat out once we get Kinley back. So we need a plan to find her." Sam went quiet, looking around at us for suggestions.

Seth spoke up hesitantly. "Why don't we just track him?" He said it like that was the most obvious thing in the world, and it kind of was. But I had a feeling Sam had already considered that.

Sam nodded, more in acknowledgement than agreement. "Right. Normally, that'd be golden. But when the man's scent is not something we're familiar with and she was taken from a place full of scents we are not accustomed to, that makes our noses moot."

"Plus," Paul added, his voice low, "I'm sure he had a car. Can't pick up a scent trail that way." We all turned to face him. Paul lifted a brow. "His address on the file said Seattle. I doubt he traveled all that way on foot. Lucky for him he has that advantage."

"His address," Emily said. "I know it's a longshot, but can't someone check there?"

Sam sighed. "Someone could, but could this guy be that stupid? I'm guessing not if he's somehow out of jail with all the shit he's done. He's got to have some sort of brain."

"And he has to know someone will be looking for her, with him as a suspect on the list. First place anyone would go to ask him questions is his address," Jared agreed.

"Okay," I said, getting impatient. "So...what? How are we going to get her back? What are we supposed to do."

Everyone was quiet for almost an entire minute—then Jacob cleared his throat. "I've...got an idea." He didn't sound too sure about whatever idea was in his head, but we all turned our gazes to him anyway, ready to consider anything.

He had a frown in place, but his expression held determination. There was more confidence in his voice when he spoke his plan, Jacob's eyes leveled on Sam's as he said, "The Cullens."

Thank you for reading! Please, please, please let me know what you thought? And if you have any Jacob/OC story recs, I'd love (seriously LOVE) to hear 'em! :)