A/N: Without further ado, let's let our girls kick some ass...while they're giant wolves...because that makes sense in this story.

Chapter Nine
Heads Will Roll

The rest of the day was awkward, to say the least.

Samantha was asleep for most of it, and the rest was spent with Elliot and Ember, trying to train me to control my phasing. Apparently I was pretty good. Apparently.

That night I fell asleep on the couch, too tired to make it to my room.

My dinging phone awoke me the next day. I fell off the couch, hitting my head on the coffee table in my strain for my phone.

"Hello?" I asked, my voice cracking from not using it for however many hours.

"Oh, Jules. You sound horrible." It was Beau.

I squeezed my eyes shut. The first thing Samantha had said when she woke up was: "Don't talk to humans!" before collapsing again.

"I feel horrible." Horrible for having to lie to you. Not being able to speak to you about the recent…development in my life.

"I'm sorry I made you go out with me. This sucks."

"I'm glad I went," I whispered. "Don't blame yourself. This isn't your fault." If anything, it was my fault for being in the most recent generation of werewolves.

"You'll get better soon," he said. "I woke up this morning, and I was fine."

"You were sick?" Damn you, Princess. I forced heat back from my spine.

"Yeah, I got the bug, too. But I'm fine now."

"That's good."

"So you'll probably be better in a few hours." Always the optimist. I was never going to recover from this.

"I don't think I have the same thing you did." Or did this certain stomach bug also come with a new set of annoying friends that can read all your opinions on them when you all basically turn into furries?

"Don't you have the stomach flu?"

"No. This is something else."

"What's wrong with you?"

I'm a monster, the thing of nightmares, the creature lurking under the bed, "Everything. Every part of me hurts."

"What can I do, Jules? What can I bring you?"

"Nothing!" I nearly shouted. "You can't come here."

"I've already been exposed to whatever you ha—"

"I'll call you when I can," I interrupted. "I'll let you know when you can come down again."

"Julie—"

A sudden howl echoed from the forest. Samantha.

"I've got to go," I said urgently, starting to head out the door.

"Call me when you feel better."

"Right."

"I'll see you soon."

"Wait for me to call."

"Okay… Bye, Jules."

"Beau," I whispered, then hit the "end" button and threw my phone back on the couch. I had work to do, and I couldn't think about some silly little tragic love story.

"You're telling people I have mono?" I yelled at my mom a few days later. "I've never kissed anyone in my entire life!"

Beau had just called. Again. According to my mom, he had been calling every day, asking to talk with me.

The rest of the pack had taught me how to control my phasing. They brought me on patrols, running tracks into the dirt floor of the forest. We watched out for vampires, and only got a few hours of sleep every night. It was nice to have a group of friends to rely on again.

But that didn't mean it didn't suck.

Sam still said it was too dangerous for me to talk with humans right now, volatile as young werewolves were. And that meant that I couldn't talk to Beau or Quil.

"It's better than any other explanation, Jules," my mom responded.

I sighed, trying to regain the calm that kept me human. I could wait. I would wait. Just until the newness of my phase was under control, and I could be around humans again. It wasn't going to be that long, right?

I was wrong.

"Sam!" I complained a week later, feeling awfully like a small child again.

I stood in front of the Calls' store, heat shivering up and down my spine as we waited at the rendezvous point. Samantha stood in front of me, spine perfectly straight and staring down at me with her cold black eyes.

"It's dangerous for any of us to be around humans," she said, a hint of the alpha leaking into her voice. "You've seen Elliot's scars. You know this."

"I can control myself. I still go to school, I still go home at night. I'm around humans all day! Why are Beau and Quil any different?"

"Because you have emotional connections to them. Emotional connections means volatility. Volatility means you phasing. You phasing means that either of them could get hurt or killed because of you," Sam said sharply.

I did see her point. I knew that my control wasn't up to par with the rest of theirs, simply because I was much younger. I knew the danger, I had seen Elliot's scars. I knew that Sam had given them to him—accidentally, yes, but that didn't make them go away.

"Okay, fine," I snapped. "I'll stay away from the humans."

We went on patrol, which meant having a group therapy session in the midst of hunting vampires. And that Samantha knew that I still wanted to see them. I knew I was dangerous. I knew I could hurt them. But it didn't mean that I didn't still miss them more than anything.

It won't get better, Ember thought. But it will be more manageable.

You're very helpful today. Heavily laden with sarcasm, just how I liked it.

I'm serious, Jules.

I know. I'm sorry.

It's okay.

Hey! Stop with the girl-fight and look at this! Paula thought, coming to a halt on her side of the rounds.

Janie—my escort for today's patrol—and I stopped, focusing on Paula's memories.

A flash of dark, sallow skin caught in Paula's peripheral of the forest along with what I imagined it would smell like if you stuck your nose in bleach.

Ugh! What is that? I asked.

All four of them thought the same thing at the same time. Vampire.

We raced to Paula's location, letting Samantha take point while the rest of us made up the edges of the V-shape.

It was simple to bolt after the vampire. Instinctual almost. Like this was what we were here for. It felt good.

Samantha led us just until the perimeter of the stench, and we lay low, listening for the moment to strike.

There was something else, too.

"Did Victor ever find you?" a voice said in the distance, along with a faintly racing heart. Beau. Why was he here?

"Yes," a smooth, feminine voice responded. "I actually came here as a favor to him. He won't be happy about this."

I knew Beau had bad luck. But running into another vampire? Now that was just cruel.

We all knew that Beau knew about vampires. He knew the Cullens were evil murderers, and yet he still loved one of them. But not me. Never me.

Shut up, Black! Janie shouted at me. Now is not the time!

"About what?" Beau asked the vampire.

"About me killing you."

I let loose a low growl, and Samantha snapped at me. Stay back!

"He wanted to save that part for himself. He's sort of…put out with you, Beau."

Beau knew her. She knew his name.

What if she's a friend of his, Jules? Would you want to kill one of Beau's friends? Ember asked.

She just said she was going to kill him! We need to get her now! I growled back.

Samantha shushed us.

"Me?" Beau asked, incredulous.

A soft, bell-like laugh. "I know, it seems a little backward to me, too. But Joss was his mate, and your Edythe killed him." His Edythe. His love. Ugh. "He thought it would be more appropriate to kill you than Edythe—fair turnabout, mate for mate. He asked me to get the lay of the land for him, so to speak. I didn't imagine you would be so easy to get to. So maybe his plan was flawed—apparently it wouldn't be the revenge he imagined, since you must not mean very much if she left you here unprotected."

Oh, snap! Paula thought. She went there!

I growled. Can we not just wait around for him to die? Please?

Samantha sunk lower into her hunting crouch. Wait…

"I suppose he'll be angry, all the same."

"Why not wait for her?" Beau said, trying to keep his wavering voice steady.

"Well, you've caught me at a bad time, Beau. I didn't come to this place on Victor's mission—I was hunting. I'm quite thirsty, and you do smell…simply mouthwatering."

Samantha started to walk forward, slowly at first, then beginning to speed. We followed suit, the bleachy smell attacking our senses.

"He'll know it was you. You won't get away with this."

"And why not? The scent will wash away with the next rain. No one will find your body—you'll simply go missing, like so many, many other humans. There's no reason for Edythe to think of me, if she even cares enough to investigate. This is nothing personal, let me assure you, Beau. Just thirst."

"Please," Beau begged.

"Look at it this way, Beau. You're very lucky I was the one to find you."

"Am I?"

"Yes. I'll be very quick. You won't feel a thing, I promise. Oh, I'll lie to Victor about that later, naturally, just to placate him. But if you knew what he had planned for you, Beau… I swear you'd be thanking me for this." The vampire paused, and I heard her take a breath. "Mouthwatering," she whispered.

We were just close enough that I could see Beau. He had squeezed his eyes shut, reaching his left hand out next to him, as if to take someone else's in his. Except there was no one beside him, just the dark-skinned vampire with dreadlocks in front.

That's when she heard us.

"I don't believe it," the vampire whispered, and I could actually see her lips move. We were this close, and I couldn't spring yet.

I turned to make sure Beau was okay and found him staring directly at me, eyes wide in wonder—or fear.

Samantha growled at the vampire, slowly leading our slinking V toward her. The vampire backed up, and I heard Janie huff out a brief laugh.

Beau stared into my eyes, but I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

Black! Samantha shouted at me, barking softly.

Just as Samantha turned away, the vampire turned and ran away.

Now!

The time I had been waiting for. Chasing down vampires. We had worked on this a few times, not really knowing if it ever would help. But we still knew it by heart.

Ember and I circled out of the formation, creating a barrier for the vampire. We were defense, making sure that one of the other three could get to them and rip their head off. That was the only way to kill them. Rip them apart and burn the pieces.

Samantha got to her first. As point, she had some advantage, but she still had Janie and Paula argue over who got to do the honors of ending this bloodsucker's life. Ember, Samantha and I held her down, ripping and tearing at her limps with our jaws as Paula and Janie stared each other down. Only we knew how childish their fight really was.

No, I wanna! Janie complained.

You got to do it in the training yesterday! It's my turn, Janie!

Nu-uh!

I huffed and turned back to the leech. She was so close to being dead, I could feel the joy already building up.

Janie and Paula weren't paying attention, so I turned to Samantha and whined, Can I?

Samantha nodded, and I ripped the leech's clean head off, flinging it into the middle of Janie and Paula's argument.

That would shut them up.

A/N: Can you tell I love writing with the gender-swapped pack? Girl fights and stupid comments galore...

Next chapter has been titled: "Heartbreaker"