Warning- there is some mild violence and some harsh language in this chapter.

thank you for reading! Again, if you have yet to vote in the poll for a book four in this series, it is at the top of my author profile page. I have also started another fanfiction titled "Exit, Pursued by a Zombie." It is another Twilight fanfiction, but this time it has themes from iZombie as well. Please check it out!

Thank you for reading, and Happy Holidays!

During the walk, I noticed one thing about Jake. He looked like shit. But at the same time he looked happier than he did last year. I supposed it had something to do with being able to kill vampires, and not have it be a huge secret anymore, because his family and I understood. Also, the purpose of the wolves were to kill vampires, so going out like this, he must feel like he was fulfilling his ultimate purpose, right?

"You shouldn't drink so much coffee, Jake, it'll give you a heart attack," I said to break the silence.

"I think I love you," he said back.

"I'm sorry," I responded after a short pause.

He didn't look like he was particularly pleased with my response, and stopped suddenly, almost making me run into him. "Is that all?" he said.

I nodded. "Yeah."

There was another pause. "Do you not want to be friends anymore?" he asked.

I sighed. The thing with Edward was that we were great friends, and he knew that anything else was off the table, for the foreseeable future, at least. Jake, not knowing my real upbringing and heritage, might not be so understanding. Then again, I didn't really care if he understood, he just needed to accept what I said.

"Jake, you're one of my best friends, nothing can change that," I said. "So I'd love to be your friend."

He looked at me with an unreadable expression. "It's him, isn't it?"

I knew he meant Edward but decided to pretend we were talking about someone else to annoy him. "Yes, Jacob, the fact that my brother is missing is important, but please don't flatter yourself into thinking that's the only reason I'm not throwing myself at you right now." I was getting a bit annoyed, and raised my voice a bit.

"You know I mean Edward. Are you two together or what?" he sounded a bit angry now, and I could more than match that.

"No, Jake, we're not. And I don't see why you need to know that because it's not like you-" I was cut off abruptly.

By his mouth. He was kissing me, or at least attempting to. And he was doing so without my permission. My hands curled into fists as anger rose in me. The water responded, churning in more violent waves. I kept perfectly still, and after a few moments Jacob seemed to realize that I hadn't moved a millimeter.

"Meda?" he asked.

"Are you finished?" I asked quietly. That was about the time he realized that he made a huge mistake.

"Yeah, and-" he started but I didn't let him finish.

I grabbed his right hand with my right hand and brought it down to my hip, slamming my left forearm into his elbow so it cracked loudly. He didn't have much time to make any noise or move to defend himself before I brought my knee up underneath his ribs, knocking the air out of him. With a solid punch to the face, I finished, thinking that the cracking of his nose and a bone in his face meant I did as good a job as any.

He collapsed to the ground, groaning. We weren't too far away from his house, so I jogged up to the door and let myself in. Billy was snoozing in his chair but woke up when I moved toward the phone.

"Meda? What happened? There's blood on your shirt!" he said.

I punched in Carlisle's number and heard the dial tone before I answered. "What happened was I put your son's ass on a platter and served it to him," I snapped. He tried to wheel himself to the door but ended up slamming into the bookshelf instead.

"Carlisle Cullen," Carlisle said.

"Get down to the border line, don't bother driving, just run over here. I kicked Jake's ass and he needs medical help," I said.

"What are you-" he started.

"Just do it!" I snapped and hung up. "Stay here Billy, I'll take care of Jacob."

I ignored his protests as I stalked my way over to Jake, still on the ground and getting his breath back. I hauled him up by his shirt and frog marched him to the truck, throwing him in the passenger seat without a word. I drove angrily to the border line, unsurprised that Carlisle and Esme were already there.

I hauled Jake out of the car and walked him over to Carlisle, who was already looking at the arm.

"I don't want a leech working on me," Jake started.

"Shut the hell up or I will break your other arm!" I said, surprising everyone. "And that is not a threat, that is a promise."

Everyone looked at me like I was a bomb about to explode. I supposed that in a way, I was. My fingers were itching toward my knife, so I walked back into my truck and slammed the door closed. Carlisle worked quickly, splinting the arm and fixing his nose. They both seemed to find the odor of the other person offensive, and their noses were constantly wrinkled. When they finished up Jake walked back to the car, looking wary.

"Can I get a ride?" he asked.

"No," I replied. "Unless you want me to get to your ribs." I started the car, and moved down the road. Carlisle and Esme could probably tell I wasn't in the mood for a chat and had already left. I saw Jacob throw his arm up in my rearview mirror.

By the time I got home Charlie was back, eating dinner. He held a hand up and swallowed, washing it down with some beer, and walked over to the phone. He sorted through the messages, then played the most recent one.

"Charlie, please, talk to Meda, she said something about 'handing Jacob's ass to him' then the next thing I know he's coming home with a splint and blood all over his face. I don't know where she went, and Jake's not talking to me. Please talk to her."

The message cut off with a shrill beep.

"What did you do?" Charlie asked me.

I rolled my eyes. "Jake kissed me, I broke his arm, kneed him in the stomach, and then punched him in the face."

Charlie seemed confused. "He kissed you?"

"Without my permission," I clarified.

"Oh," he said. "Well in that case, did you pepper spray him?"

That was weird. "I don't have pepper spray."

"I put some in your truck when you first came here. It's in your glove compartment."

"Oh, then if anyone messes with me, I'll finish off with the spray then," I said with a smile.

"Let's get some food in you," he said.

And that was that. Charlie called Billy back and explained to him calmly that if Jacob didn't want his ass handed to him, he shouldn't have kissed me without my permission. Billy seemed to understand that, and the conversation ended with him inviting Charlie over to fish and watch some sort of sporting event.

Right as I was ready to get in bed there was a soft pattering of sorts against my window. I extended my knives and drew back the curtain, peeking around the corner to see…Edward. In the tree.

I smirked as I opened the window and waved him in. he unfolded himself and was in my room in an instant. We just looked at each other for a moment before he grinned.

"I hear you broke Jacob's arm," he said.

"Don't forget his nose," I reminded him, retracting my blades and closing the window.

"Why? I know he's your friend, what made you do something like that?"

It was a fair question, one part of me was hoping he'd never ask, because he might not like the answer.

"Apparently friendship isn't good enough for him," I said. When he didn't say anything, I added "he kissed me. Without my permission."

"Ah," he said in understanding, nodding. There was another pause before he asked "but why break his arm? Isn't the proper protocol a slap or something along those lines?"

I snorted loudly. "I was trained to kill, not slap. Half of me wishes I did slap him, but a small bit of me wishes I broke his neck. It's not like I don't know how."

I met his eyes then, eyes full of questions.

"It sounds personal," he said.

"It is," was all I replied with.

The silence was thick before he said anything. "You don't owe me anything," he said.

"I think I might," I said. "But I'll give you the shortened version. I was eight when my foster sister didn't come down to help me with homework like she promised. I went up to her room and found the oldest foster boy assaulting her. She had broken ribs and a concussion by the time I got there, and it was clear he wasn't finished. So I beat him to a pulp, like I was trained to do. He called the state, probably ashamed he was beaten by a girl ten years younger than him, and within the next hour he and I were two counties away from each other. And still, after all this time, I sometimes wonder if I was too late, or just in time. What if I walked in five minutes later?" I asked. "What if a girl Jacob did that to couldn't fight back, if she could only stand there and wish she was somewhere else?"

I didn't see him reach over and cover my hand with his. Startled, I faced him, ready to pull away. "I understand," he said. "And I'm very thankful you…prevented further harm to your foster sister. You're a good person, Meda, really. Don't think you aren't."

It was strange, hearing that. It was like after all this time, those were exactly the words I wanted to hear.

"Thank you," I said. I waited a few moments before saying "I'm going to go to sleep now."

He stood up quickly and headed back to the window. "Goodnight," he said softly before leaping out of it. I could make out a blur of movement as he ran into the woods.

"Show off," I muttered before securing the window.

The next morning I was surprised by Alice coming through my window with what seemed like fifteen giant bags of clothing. She made me promise not to open any before tonight, as it was what she wanted me to wear for graduation and the party from hell she was planning on throwing later. With a quick congratulations for physically harming Jacob for his actions, she went through the window as I was frantically brushing my teeth and rushing out the door. To my surprise, she did not leave me alone, instead as I ran out the door I almost tripped over the Volvo, and was quickly waved inside by Alice and Edward, who sped us to school.

The English test was a breeze, our teacher, Mrs. Garcia, probably never wanted to see us again for the rest of her life so she made the questions as easy as possible. Chemistry was another matter, and I was sadly one of the last ones done. Like the day before, we were let out early and many were cheering. I was searching for my truck for a few moments before I remembered I rode with Alice and Edward. I took a sharp turn and waited for a few seconds before climbing up on the roof of the car, letting my feet dangle over the passenger door. Within a minute of climbing up, Alice appeared, looking very displeased.

"I just washed and waxed the car, Meda, if you get dirt on it I swear I will end you," she said primly.

"You live in the rainiest city in the United States, dirt is the least of your worries," I shot back.

"Are we going to head out or are you just going to stay there?" Edward asked from behind me.

"Head out?" I asked.

"Didn't Alice say anything?" we both turned to glare at Alice.

"I hope you know I have over one hundred different bottles of nail polish and I bought twenty pairs of shoes for you. This is going to take some time."

With those words, I groaned and flopped back onto the roof, my head hitting the metal with a clang. I shot up, hoping there was no dents. Thankfully I got off easy, and hopped down and into the backseat before I could do any more damage. Edward dropped us off at my house before taking off, leaving me to Alice, who was chattering about colors and sequins and using words in French and Italian. But it was Alice, and there's no stopping her, was there?