Here are my apologies for the extremely long wait. I'd hit the dreaded writer's block but it's not such a way that I couldn't get the words out it's just that I didn't have any motivation to do anything.

"Still want to tell her that this place is dangerous?" Edward asked, standing beside him as they watched the couple embrace, aware of their audience but not caring at all. "I mean, it seems like she has sufficient protection now."

"Shut up," Jacob hissed, guilt festering in his gut as he watched the loving couple. He'd insulted their imprint earlier and if - when - Hermione found out, she'd kill him.

"Ooh, tough one," Edward winced. "I'd hate to have made such a fatal mistake like that."

"Yeah, well any fatal mistake you seem to mistake has an effect on Bella, not yourself, so it doesn't really matter." He looked over at the vampire whose jaw was clenched so tightly that Jacob was sure his teeth were grounding together. "Does it?"

"I thought you were in England," Paul gasped in awe, cradling her face. "I thought you were safe."

"I'm safe with them but I'm even safer now that you're here," she told him, running her hands across his torso to check for any marks. "I knew you'd come. I knew it."

He chuckled at her and she grinned cheekily before peppering kisses along his neck. "Woah, tiger, slow down." She bit on his pulse point and he groaned. "Seriously, Hermione, stop."

"Why?" she whined, extending the word in a pout that resembled a five year old denied sweets.

"As much as I love you, and that's a lot, I really doubt you'd want to have sex with all those vampires in hearing distance. Plus, we haven't even been separated a day. What do you take me for, a desperate sex addict?"

"I missed you."

"I missed you too," he sympathised. "But as I said, it's only been a few hours."

"Feels like a decade," she muttered, standing up and holding him close as he joined her on his feet. "I don't know what it is and I don't know what I can do to help. I'm absolutely useless here!"

"No, baby, don't say that," Paul argued. "This is just something completely different and we're going to have to research it." She chewed her bottom lip in contemplative thought. "Stop thinking," he ordered. "This is personal for you, as this is personal for all of us but for you to help and make a difference, you're going to need to distance yourself."

"Distance myself? Paul, that's my cousin! I'm currently living in this house for the foreseeable future!"

"Look at this like a Detective would look at a murder. You're smart; you'll be able to look at this from a research perspective."

"And make her into my science lab project?" she scoffed. "Paul, this is a matter of life and death!" Her voice raised with each word until she was almost shouting.

"Why are you getting angry at me? I'm trying to help you here! If this is life and death, then you can help your cousin by researching and be able to help people in the future." He sighed and ran a hand through his short hair. "If you're going to shout at me then I need to speak to my Alpha and work on patrols." The way he spoke hinted his dislike at Jacob.

The couple stared at each other, chests slightly heaving with their frustration before Hermione sagged. "I'm sorry," she apologised. "This is just driving me crazy." He pulled her into his arms and pecked her on the forehead, resting his cheek on her head whilst she rested hers on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"Even though it's been a few hours since we planned to go to England, so much has happened for both of us." She lifted her head, her chin resting on his chest so that she could look up at him. "Once we've had a decent sleep, maybe things will be easier on us." His stomach rumbled and she giggled.

"And once we've had a good meal too, I suppose?" He winked at her and her giggles escalated into a full blown laugh, one that made a grin spring to his face as he looked down at her.

"You know I can never turn down a bit of good food."

"Oh," Esme gasped, her hands covering her mouth in shock. Carlisle, Jasper and Emmett all exchanged amused smiles which they hid from the female vampire. "That boy is hungry! That means the others are hungry probably hungry too and they've had such a stressful evening!" She immediately bustled to the kitchen, the sounds of different meals being prepared reaching their ears. "Rosalie! Alice! Come help me in here, please."

"I'm looking after Bella," Rosalie protested immediately whilst the small pixie rushed into the kitchen for assistance. "Can't the two of you handle it?"

"This time. Next time you can do something for our guests," she promised. "Something other than causing trouble."

Emmett and Jasper guffawed, covering Carlisle's low chuckles whilst Rosalie fumed beside a giggling and wincing Bella.

"Mind if I change back? I want to keep in contact with Seth and Leah." Edward showed no protests so Jacob quickly shook off his jeans and took the change. Immediately he was confronted with their conversation and overwhelmed with their confusion for the sudden patrol change.

"Jake!" Seth greeted. "What's happening?"

"I'm just about to go over the conversation that we had with Sam with Edward and…" He paused, internally sighing. "Hermione's here."

"What?" Seth gaped.

"Yeah. She somehow managed to make her way over here and now she's in this nightmare with us."

"At least she has Paul," Seth chattered and Jacob sensed Leah's huff more than he heard it. Seth seemed to as well since he swiftly dropped the conversation. "Right, we'll carry on patrolling. You get back to talking to Edward and we'll just act like we aren't here." He chuckled awkwardly.

"Good plan," Leah muttered but both male wolves chose to ignore her.

"We good to discuss what brought you here now?" Edward asked and Jacob turned to the telepath to find both muscle man and the cowboy standing next to him.

"Yeah," he confirmed. In his peripheral vision, he saw Hermione and Paul walking towards the quartet, their arms looped together and neither showing any discomfort or embarrassment with Paul's nudity. It showed how Hermione had really grown in confidence over the months. "Things got bad. You're lucky that we broke off and disagreed otherwise we'd be in a full blown war on our hands."

"A war?" Edward questioned, crossing his arms and leaning against the house wall with disbelief.

"He'd do that?" Emmett asked, exchanging a look with Jasper. "I'm not scared." He flexed his muscles for effect and Jacob scoffed though only Edward heard.

"Of course he'd do that," Edward replied. "It's the same thing we'd do if they brought in something potentially dangerous to us. We'd protect our family. At least Bella would be safe."

Jacob sat down abruptly, his mind filling with the conversation from earlier. Abomination. Destroy it. The whole shabam.

"They want to kill Bella?" he snarled, Jasper and Emmett jumping to attention at his words. They both growled softly, almost hesitantly as they were unsure of the full conversation but Edward appeased them quickly. "These guys broke off from the Pack; they disagreed with what Sam wanted to do."

"What did he want to do?" Hermione asked quietly, having gotten closer to the group so that she could hear them clearly. Jacob almost jumped in shock, forgetting that she could be quiet if she wanted to.

"He wanted a slaughter."

Shorter but hey ho. We've almost made 300 favourites and 400 reviews: any chance a girl could ask for those targets to be reached? I'll flatter my eyelashes.