This is one of my absolute favorite chapters, as it is made up of two of my most favorite scenes mushed together- one from New Moon and the other from Eclipse.
Disclaimer: I don't own much- mainly my OCs and plot... Everything else belongs to Stephanie Meyer.
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Call of the Forest 51 Glimpses of Red (BPOV)
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~February~
"Bella, Paul and Nix take the west boundary line, Jacob, Embry and Seth patrol the northern area, and Jared, Leah and Quil patrol the southern area. Dustin and I will start the normal patrol at noon. Colin and Brady, stay here and try to commune with your inner wolves again-we need to figure out where their personalities diverge from yours."
"Sure thing boss." Brady replied.
"I already told you guys that you don't have to call me that." Sam sighed.
"But it fits boss!" Colin whined, Jake chuckling a little next to me.
I could just tell that he wanted to say something without the other's hearing, so I walked next to him and reached into the depths of my mind to find the edge of my barrier to stretch over him.
I figured out how my mental barrier works over the past few months-it's like a rubber band, allowing me to stretch it over others, though I can't stretch it that far. I can also kinda block other's thoughts from the others, but I can only really protect things aimed directly at me, and protecting those further from where I am puts more strain on me than if they were standing right next to me and I could stretch my barrier over them, and if it's stretched over them then all of their thoughts are protected.
"That's why I don't want to be alpha." Jacob chuckled, and I shoved him with my shoulder.
"Jacob Black! You know that you have to take over as alpha sometime- your wolf is the true alpha!"
"Yeah, but being in charge of all these buffoons takes a lot outta Sam- I don't want to lose my sanity quite yet Bella."
"You won't lose your sanity Jake…" I started, interrupted by a firm shove from Paul's shoulder which sent me straight into Jake, causing us to fall on top of each other. That could only mean one thing. As soon as I let the mental barrier down, I was being yelled at by Paul.
"God Bella, we were supposed to start patrolling ten minutes ago, but you were lost in Jakeland…!"
"Shut up Paul." Jacob snapped.
"Is baby alpha angry we interrupted his alone time with his mate?" Paul taunted.
"Don't call me that!" Jake whined.
"Aww, does baby alpha…"
"Wanna start patrolling now Bella?" Nix managed to ask me over the clamor that Jake and Paul were making in the pack mind.
"Sure." I replied as I trotted into the woods with Nix, leaving Jake and Paul still bickering about whatever it is that they were arguing about.
Nix and I stopped once we reached the shallow river that marked part of our boundary with the Cullens.
Pausing for a moment to sniff the air, we set off at a trot north along the river, glancing at the river every so often as the clear water would be broken by rapids or swirl into a small pool as the river got deeper.
Paul caught up with us after about ten minutes, surprisingly quiet.
"What's wrong Paul? Usually you make some comment about how slow we are…"
"It's nothing."
"'Nothing' doesn't make you…" I was interrupted by the sound of rustling underbrush accompanied by the wind wafting the sickly sweet scent of vampires downwind towards us.
"Crap." Paul swore as he took off running further up the river. I scarcely felt the soft earth turn to hard stone as we shadowed the treaty line, the scent blowing from the Cullen's side.
A huge bang echoed throughout the otherwise almost silent forest, followed by the unmistakable sound of a tree falling. I'm pretty sure someone would've yelled 'timber' if we weren't following a vampire just on the other side of the line.
"Timber!" Quil called out playfully.
"Now really isn't the time Quil." Sam sighed as he, along with the rest of the pack started running towards us, knowing full well that half of the pack was too far away to be of any use.
A flash of orange flew across the gorge, landing on our side. Paul, who was further ahead than Nix and I at the moment caught a glimpse of her face "Victoria" .
"Who?" Colin and Brady questioned as Jacob doubled his efforts to reach us as we chased Victoria down the gorge.
"Later." Half the pack snapped, causing the two newest members of the pack to shrink down.
Paul was almost on her, when she leaped over a bush, Paul barreling right into the unfortunate shrubbery that was now half uprooted.
Nix leaped over Paul without missing a stride, with such grace that only he possessed. Victoria looked back towards us for a second, giving Nix the time he needed to get right on her heels, but she took a sharp turn and leaped back to the Cullen's side. It was then that I noticed the Cullens running right alongside us, Emmett's clothes looking a little worse for wear. After about thirty seconds, the time it took for Edward to catch up to her, Victoria leaped back over to our side, Paul still a good few meters behind her.
I saw Emmett bend his legs, his momentum never stopping as he ran closer to the edge, before finally leaping, Paul turning abruptly and meeting Emmett midair. "No! Emmett!"
My though broke Paul's concentration, and his hold on Emmett loosened just enough for Emmett to slip out of his jaws and into the river.
I leaped down the rockface, forgetting entirely about Victoria, my only focus being Emmett's welfare.
I met his gaze, and he nodded once, sending me one of his smiles that only Jacob's could rival.
It was then that I noticed that Nix wasn't with us.
~*~(NPOV)~*~
As soon as the big vampire leaped over the river, I knew that both Bella and Paul would forget entirely about the redhead, and I was right-Paul attacked the Cullen and Bella stayed behind to make sure he was okay.
I took a sharp turn into the forest and bolted after Victoria.
"Jacob, Embry, Seth! Try to cut her off…" I thought as a streak of russet fur flew past me, knocking me slightly off-balance. I should've figured that Jacob would be a lost cause…
"We'll try, but I don't think we'll get there in time Nix." Embry replied.
Sensing the 'Why?' in my head, Seth continued "We're just about as far from you as we could be."
"Then what about Jacob?"
"As soon as Bella identified the leech, he was tearing off towards you guys."
"Just try your best."
I could feel both Jared's ad Sam's impressment at my ability to make split second assumptions based on my prior knowledge of everyone else. I didn't pay them much mind though- I was focused on catching up to the redhead.
Sprinting as fast as I could, I could feel my legs burning, having never been pushed this hard for such an extended period of time before. The only thing besides the scent that told me I was still on the vampire's tail was the occasional glimpses of red that were getting even more sparse- I was getting tired, and as a result was letting her get ahead of me.
I pushed myself even harder, my legs whining in protest. I was focused so much on pushing myself that I failed to notice the strong smell of salt and seawater hanging in the air.
I emerged into a small clearing, the redhead staring straight at me, smirking.
"You're much more resilient than I thought your kind could be." She said, making me freeze for a second, giving her the time to turn around at an impossibly fast speed and dive into the dark sea water below, the dive almost certainly being a perfect thirty if she were in the Olympics.
I charged forward, hoping for at least a bit of clothing, but knowing full well that it was an impossibility.
I slowed myself down a bit, leaping onto the small outcropping of rock overlooking the sea. I let the wind ruffle my fur as I beat myself up over letting her get away from me.
"Don't worry about it Nix- there's always next time…" Quil tried to comfort, but failing miserably.
I caught little snippets of Sam's conversation with Jared, catching only 'Nix', 'take over', 'third', and 'Paul'.
Not wanting to even try to piece together what they were saying, I slowly turned around and started walking back towards the others, my legs feeling like jelly from having been pushed so hard.
"Don't beat yourself up over it Nix- you did better than most of us could've ever hoped to." Sam tried to soothe, but I shot it down almost immediately.
"Doubtful. Leah and Jacob are both faster than me, they probably could've gotten her…"
"Yeah, but they wouldn't have gone after her instead of staying with Paul and Bella." Sam countered.
I had to admit, no matter how bad I felt, Sam was right- I'm pretty sure that no one else would've gone after the redhead instead of the Cullen.
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Next up we learn about Bella!
I WANT CANDY! (and reviews...)
