**Sorry it's been taking so long to update.

Edward came to see me that night.

"You sure gave him something to think about." He said sitting in the armchair in my living room.

I sat at my desk, trying unsuccessfully to focus on my homework.

"What is he doing?"

"Talking to Sam. Bella's with him." Edward said concentrating on Jacob's "voice."

"What's he talking to Sam for?"

"Smoothing things over."

"What happened? What's he smoothing over?"

"When the other vampires came, they went after Sam's pack too." Edward said looking at me now. "As you can imagine, Sam is a little bitter about it."

"Oh." I said.

"Any news on Jeremy?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "No."

"I'll go to New York after I talk to Bella. I'm sure your parents could use my abilities."

"Of course they could use them but they refused to let me ask you; said that you needed to be here to keep an eye on me."

"Do they really think five vampires won't be enough to keep you out of trouble?"

"Apparently. And with Max on my ass 24/7 I barely get a chance to slip in the shower."

"With Jacob being back I'm sure they won't have any trouble letting a few of us vampires go."

Of course the conversation led back to Jacob.

"I didn't know it bothered you." Edward said.

"It shouldn't." I said shaking my head. "I don't know why it is."

"Because you miss him."

More than anything.

"He misses you too. In fact, I should be going…"

"What?"

"He's on his way over."

I didn't know what to do, or think.

"Relax." Edward said, reacting to my suddenly panicked thoughts. "He just wants to talk to you."

"What are we talking about?"

He hesitated for a moment with a guarded expression, "I think I should let him do the talking."

Edward left before I could question him further and only a few moments later Max came down the stairs.

"Jacob is coming. What is it?"

"I can't leave you unguarded for a moment." He said.

"What were you sitting at the door?" I asked. "Do you think you could resist while Jacob's here? I'd still like some privacy."

"Are you sure you'll be alright alone with him? He seemed pretty upset at the Cullen's house."

"Jacob would never hurt me." I said. "Trust me."

"I'll be upstairs… just say my name and I'll be here."

I nodded and he headed back up the stairs. I sat in my living room in the silence, waiting. I couldn't stand it. I waited for him for months, look at how that turned out. What good would come of this late night, impromptu visit?

A light knock shook me from my thoughts. I got up and opened the door to a dripping wet Jacob. I hadn't noticed it started raining. I let him in and grabbed a towel from the bathroom.

"This is nice." He said looking around the room. "They did a good job."

"Yeah." I nodded waiting for the real reason he was here.

"About today…"

"You don't need to explain. You were upset, so was I."

"Well, I'm sorry." He said handing the towel back to me. "So, you really think I need to grow up?"

"I think we both have a little growing up to do."

"…Where does that leave us?" He said approaching me, I could feel the heat coming off of his skin; it drew me closer to him.

What did that mean? Did he think I was trying to break it off with him? I couldn't imagine the thought.

"Right here." I said looking into his dark eyes. "I don't want you to go anywhere Jacob."

"I won't." He said quietly and bent to kiss me but just as our lips connected the door flew open with a loud bang and Edward was at our side.

"Jacob, they're coming."

"What?" Jacob said with shock and anger.

"They'll be here within the hour."

"Well, we have to head them off." He looked down at me, a mixture of pain and love in his eyes. "I'll be back. Stay inside."

"Wait, who is almost here? What are you guys talking about?"

"The Volturi; the ones who are after us." Jacob said. "This is why I left before; why I didn't call you. I don't want them to find you Katie."

"I know. Edward told me. But… they wouldn't even be interested in me. I'm not like you."

"I don't even want to take the chance." He said and took my hand. "We have to get you out of here."

"Like hell. She's not going anywhere." Max now stood at the door.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Jacob said to Max. "They can't know about her."

"Jacob," Edward said, trying to defuse the situation; he was good at that, "Katie should stay here, inside. As long as we keep them away from the house and the campus they shouldn't be able to pick up any scents. There's nowhere else we can get her fast enough that she'll be safe."

"We can't leave her unprotected."

"We don't have a choice. If the Volturi even get the inkling that something is up they're going to start investigating. Besides, if they even think of looking around, I'll know about it."

Jacob was torn. He looked at me with grave concern.

"I won't let anything happen to her." Max said, still standing at the door.

Rage built in Jacob's eyes as he looked into mine. But he knew he had no choice. He was going to have to trust my safety to someone else.

"Max, get Logan." Edward said. "Tell him what's happening. He should stick around here too, just in case."

Max headed upstairs.

"Let's go." Edward said as he headed for the door.

"You're coming back right?" I asked Jacob, thinking of the last time he went after these vampires. "You're not leaving again are you?"

He didn't answer, just gave me a weak smile and kissed me before heading out the door after Edward.

I waited for hours; Max was next to me the entire time. We sat silently on the couch waiting. I couldn't do anything else. I couldn't even think of anything else. Jacob fully consumed my mind. As the morning hours crept by I unwillingly fell asleep and when my mind started rousing I jerked awake, looking around the room. Light flooded through the kitchen windows. The clock revealed it was late morning.

"You're alright." Max said putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Where is he? Did he come back?" I asked him, worry spreading over me.

"No." Max sat back in the seat, letting me go.

"We have to go look for him." I stood up and walked into my room to get dressed. Max followed after me. I grabbed a fresh set of clothes and walked into the bathroom, locking to door behind me.

"You can't go look for them. Did you listen to anything they were saying last night? They can't know about you."

"I don't care." I pulled on my clean clothes and exited the bathroom to where Max was lounging on my bed. "Jacob would do the same for me."

"But Jacob is huge. You're… well, you're not that huge."

"I just want to make sure he's OK." I said. "I don't even have to talk to him… I just want to see him."

"Katie… you need to stay inside. If these vampires are as dangerous as Edward makes them out to be then I'm not letting you leave this house; just wait a little longer."

I looked at him. As difficult as it was to keep myself in those walls, I agreed. After all, he'd been right about my parents. So, I waited longer. I sat at the window over the sink watching the woods for most of the hours that passed, waiting for Jacob to walk from the trees and through my door. When darkness settled again I couldn't take it anymore.

"Max, I have to go." I said frantically. "I literally can't stay here. I'm going crazy."

"Have you called Edward?"

"I've called all the Cullens. No one is picking up."

"Well, if something happened don't you think one of them would call you?"

"I thought that before… now I'm not so sure." I said. "They didn't tell me when he went after them the first time and completely severed all contact with me."

"If that's what they have to do to protect you then I can't blame them."

"Damn it, Max! Why can't you agree with me for once?"

"Look, Katie, as odd as it may seem… I can see where they're coming from. I probably wouldn't talk to you either if I had some mad vampires on my ass that could use my love for you to bend me to their will."

I hated when he talked about having love for me.

"I'm calling them again." I said and went into my bedroom.

They all went straight to voicemail this time. I begged and pleaded with each message for someone to call me, to tell me what was happening. I laid on the bed and tried going back to sleep, I was tired enough but my mind was too wired so I ended up pacing the room instead.

When my phone rang again I didn't even look at the ID I just opened it and put it to my ear.

"Hello? Jacob?" I said quickly. "Hello?"

"Jacob?" My mom's voice carried over the line. "Is everything alright honey?"

"Oh. Mom. Yeah. It's fine…" Then it hit me that this was my mother calling me, putting Jeremy back on my mind. "What's up? Have you found anything?"

"…Yes." She said with a smile in her voice. "We got him back."

"Oh thank God." I said, letting some release of the tension building inside. "What happened? Tell me everything."

"Well, he's in rough shape… but honey we didn't catch the mutt. He's still out there."

"Oh," a new thing to worry about.

"We were so close… He practically slipped through our fingers. Jeremy was… well he couldn't very well have gone after him. But the important thing is that everyone is alright. We just have to keep searching for this bastard mutt."

I could hear the stress in her voice so I didn't question her any more.

"Where is he? Can I talk to him?"

"He's resting."

"OK. Well, tell him we love him." I said.

"I will." She said. "I should get back…"

"Yeah. Talk to you later." I said and hung up the phone.

I went upstairs and knocked on Logan's door. He didn't answer. I opened the door a crack and peaked in; the lights were off. This was something he would want to woken up for. I opened the door fully and flipped the light on. The bed was unmade and empty. He wasn't in his room. I checked the bathroom, the kitchen, the couch, the bathroom again, even Max's room. He wasn't in the house. I went back downstairs in a rush.

"Where is Logan?" I asked Max.

"Isn't he upstairs?"

"No." I said panicking. "We have to look for him."

"Katie--."

"Don't even fucking pull this shit, Max. It's my brother." I said severely. "I'm looking for him."

"Alright." He didn't argue. "I'm coming with you."

We left immediately starting at the front door. The scent was at least a few hours old. It led to where the car had been previously parked.

"How did we miss that?" I asked Max and pulled out my cell phone. Logan didn't answer his. "Where the hell did he go?"

"Where do we start?"

"I don't even know. He wouldn't go to the Cullens', we could try the campus? I don't know why he'd go there."

"It's worth a shot."

We came up empty. This wasn't like him at all. He wouldn't just up and take off after being told it would be dangerous. I couldn't put it together but I couldn't just sit and wait for him to show up again.

"So where do we go from here?"

"I don't know." I said, sick with worry. "Jacob said to stay inside… but I can't just leave Logan running around. I have to find out what's going on with him."

"The plan's ruined now anyway." Max said bitterly. "If they catch his scent they're going to come looking, so it doesn't matter."

"Right… but where do we go first?"

We both Changed and headed for the Cullen's house. I knew Edward and his family probably wouldn't be inviting these Volturi into their house and figured it was a safe place to start looking. The house was dark and I didn't pick up Logan's scent anywhere. I headed to the places that we used to run a lot when we first moved here. They all turned up nothing as well. The last place I checked was Forks, it was the only other familiar place we had left to look and I figured while I was there I could have a peak in to see if Jacob had been home.

As we approached the house I saw the familiar truck parked outside. Logan was here. Logan was here? I rushed my Change and walked up to Jacob's apartment. It was empty and only his lingering, ground in scent was left around the house. He hadn't even been here yet. I grabbed a fresh set of clothes and started knocking on doors. Quil and Embry weren't around, nor was Seth. Finally I came to Leah's door. I was hesitant a first only because Leah and I didn't exactly get along but I pushed ahead and banged loudly. Almost instantly the door swung open and Logan stood in the space between. I was awe struck.

"What are you doing?" I asked him. "You—you didn't tell me where you were going… I… Why are you here?"

"You should know… the whole imprinting thing is old news to you now."

"Imprinting…" I had no idea what was going on. "What are you talking about?"

"Leah… she uh, she finally told me."

"Wait, Leah Imprinted on you?"

He smiled, "I wanted to tell you… but you were having so many problems with Jake… I just didn't want to upset you more."

"Logan…" I wanted to hug him, congratulate him but that wasn't why I was here. "You have to come home. Those vampires are still out there."

"I think we're safer here than over at our place, y'know having a vampire killing machine around is probably in our best interests."

"Is that all I am to you?" Leah came smiling into the doorway. She was unusually warm toward me. "You guys coming in?"

We walked through the door. Her apartment was completely different from Jacob's. It was all hues of purple and blue, very feminine and flowery. Not something I expected Lean to enjoy living in.

"Do you want something to drink?" She asked us, but we both refused.

"Jacob asked us to stay at the house… we need to go back," I said.

"Jake can go fuck himself." Logan said, Leah gave him a warning look. "I'm sorry but if he thinks he can order me around then he's got another thing coming."

"Logan there are vampires out there!"

"There are always vampires out there." He pointed out. "Why should we have to hide from these ones?"

"If they find out about you and Kat," Max said, "they could use you to get the werewolves to bend to their will. I've no doubt they'll sink to that level since it seems nothing else will get Jacob to do what they want."

"That's not true." Leah said. "These are very old vampires. They want us to protect them. Why would they threaten the harm the people we care about unless we do what they asked? It doesn't make sense because as soon as they're threatened, whose to say we won't just sit back and watch them be destroyed, merely out of the fact that they hurt our loved ones? I certainly wouldn't help them out after that."

"I think we're jumping the gun here. We don't even know if that's what they're thinking." I said. "But we can't rule it out."

"So stay here." Leah said. "Katie, you can stay in Jake's apartment, and Max can stay in Seth's."

"I'm not leaving her alone." Max said.

"Yeah…" Leah said. "Y'know Jacob about wants to rip your throat out every time he sees you."

"So he's threatened?"

"Severely." She said. "But you know… when you Imprint, its forever. Even if Jake left Katie right now, eventually they would find each other again and… well, you'd be alone again. It's a bitter reality you should know about."

"I'm willing to take my chances." Max said and left the apartment.

An awkward silence followed. I wanted to say something but I didn't know what. Leah was right, even if she was cruel about it. I could see myself falling for a guy like Max but he would always be the second best. Jacob filled the first spot in my heart and always would.

"I'm sorry." Leah said, though it seemed insincere. "He had to find out sometime."

"You were a little blunt." I said.

"It's the only way he'd listen." She brushed her hair over her shoulder and looked to Logan at her side. "I should probably tell Jacob that you all are here. So he doesn't have a conniption when he goes back to an empty house."

She left the apartment, leaving Logan and I alone. I looked at him for a long moment, trying to think of the right thing to say.

"I knew something was up with you." I said finally. "You've been acting weird for… months."

"Yeah, well, it kind of just happened. She didn't want me to make a big deal of it."

"But it is a big deal."

"To you." He shrugged. "Honestly, I thought Jacob was going to be the one to spill the beans to you."

"Jake knew?"

"Of course. There are no secrets in their Pack. They literally can't hide anything."

I pursed my lips, I would have thought Jacob would tell me something like that too. Apparently not.

Leah came in a few minutes later in a tizzy.

"He's not in wolf form." She said nervously.

"What does that mean?" I asked feeding into her energy.

"He stays in his wolf form whenever they're around, just in case he has to protect himself; Edward speaks for him. He's not a wolf… I don't know what's happening."

"I'm going." I said turning out of the room, back into the hallway.

"Kat, please." Logan grabbed my shoulder. "It's probably nothing."

"Or is could be something. I don't want to take the chance." I said, heading down the hall.

"Katie," Leah caught up to me, "you really shouldn't go. Jacob said that you need to stay hidden from them. If they find out about you… we'd have no choice but to work for them."

"Why?"

"Because Jacob won't let anything happen to you. If those vampires get a hold of you then there's no hope for us. We'll be working for them for the rest of our lives."

"Alright. I'll stay. But you have to tell me the second you hear anything."

She nodded and I left her apartment. Jacob's place was dark but not empty. I could smell Max. I stepped as silently as possible through the living room as not to wake him but when the side table light switched on it became apparent that Max wasn't sleeping.

"Hi." I said stopping.

"Hey." He said looking at me. "I want to talk to you about us."

"Max, there is no us." I said.

"There could be."

"You heard what Leah said. Jacob and I belong together."

"Are you really going to condemn yourself to that life? What if you don't want it?"

"I want it." I said heading toward Jacob's bedroom.

"I want you."

"Please don't do this Max." I said turning back to him. "I like you a lot. I want us to be friends. You're a lot of fun to hang out with. But if you persist in trying to steal me away from Jacob, I won't have a choice but to…"

"Dump me?"

"Please just stop." I said and went into the bedroom.

This was the room that Jacob's scent hit the hardest. I fell into the bed and buried my face into the pillows. I missed him. I missed everything about him; his scent, the heat that came off of his skin, his voice, the way he looked at me. I had to stop myself there. I let his scent cloud my head as I drifted into sleep.