Chapter Ten

The day came when, as the pack and I went out to hunt Victoria, we caught a scent much more recent than the others.

It was Embry that smelled it at first, though I caught it less than a second later. His massive, furry body suddenly became rigid, the nostrils widened. His teeth snapped together sharply, and the sound held such a note of finality that all us, even Sam, turned and responded to his signals.

The werewolves sat, lifted their muzzles and sniffed at the air. It only took a moment for them to catch it, as well. The rumblings of triumphant snarls echoed in the empty spaces between the trees.

Sam-wolf checked us all with his own sharp, urgent growl. He looked very hard at the other wolves, and though I couldn't hear his thoughts, I was sure he was telling them to concentrate and be quieter than ever—that 'this was not a drill', and that sort of thing.

Then Sam looked at me. By now, I understood all of the werewolves' unconscious gestures that I could roughly interpret the message he was sending me.

This is for real. Fresh trail. Are you coming?

"Yes, yes," I breathed.

Then be quick and quiet. If you smell a change, tell.

Sam-wolf's eyes and manner were so authoritative that I lowered my eyes and bent my head in submission. Seeming satisfied at my behavior, he turned away and his ear flicked in a signal to follow.

The pack was magnificent this afternoon, and I felt more part of it than I had in all of the other weeks put together. All of the wolves' gestures were easier to understand. The pack seemed to recognize and follow Sam-wolf's signals before he had even made them. There was no distinction between each individual; we tracked Victoria as one entity, a single unit.

We chased her scent with the silence of a ghost and the speed of a shadow. To human eyes, all of us together would have been no more than a dark blur, suddenly there and suddenly gone. I ran alongside Jacob, as always, but today there was no difference between us, no strict barrier that separated our species. For those few hours that we hunted Victoria—and those hours alone—I had the mentality of a werewolf.

Our anticipation grew as we neared her and the scent became stronger. She wasn't running away, this time—she was waiting for us. The calm, vampire voice in the back of my mind told me that she must have a reason for waiting, that there was something wrong, but I paid it no heed. Like the wolves around me, I lived in the moment.

Victoria was sitting on a boulder the first time I saw her. Her eyes were as maliciously crimson as they had been when I'd last seen them: her startling stark red hair was thrown back in disarray by the howling wind. Her smile, when she saw me, was delighted.

Threatening growls were erupting all around me. The logical vampire voice was urgently trying to tell me something.

Victoria rose to her feet with feline grace. The very small step back she took didn't seem at all fearful or worried.

Sam had signaled the wolves to surround her, but not to close in yet. His dark eyes were distinctly puzzled; he seemed to be struggling, like me, with some insistent idea.

When Paul-wolf took his first step toward her, it came to me.

Victoria wasn't an idiot. She wasn't here to be killed by the werewolves. And if they tried, I knew now that she would escape somehow—run up a tree, or something like that. What she was here for was me. I was the only reason that could persuade her to come so near to a pack of werewolves. And I was also the only reason she would stay.

So I was the one who would have to kill her.

Gone were my feelings of anticipation and confidence, as well as my feelings of indistinction and pack-unity; rather, I felt more alone than I had in my life. My melodious voice sounded small and meek in my own ears as I mumbled, "Wait. Don't attack her—I'm the one she wants."

Jacob-wolf and the rest of the pack turned their heads away from Victoria, their eyes wide with astonishment.

Author's Note: There's chappy ten for you. The story's getting along, isn't it--ten chapters! Having only done one-shots before, I never would have believed it of myself. The chapter's a pretty short one this time. Sorry.

Many thanks to my dear friend and extraordinary beta, Lomesir. Oh, I got my one-hundredth review a couple of days ago. Thank you all so much for reading and giving me feedback, I really appreciate it. And as always, please review if you enjoyed this one.

--Poola