A/N: Oh my gosh! I am so sorry! I completely forgot about this story! (sad hu?) As I said before, I've been so busy with my friend going in the hospital (thank god she's ok now), college (my online class is almost at a wraps so my instructor is making us work our butts off), and work…I am so sorry! I honestly meant to post sooner! I completely forgot about this until I was deleting files off my computer and onto my flashdrive and I came across this and gasped. I'm so sorry, I'll try and post more loads quicker next time. : ( Glad you all enjoyed the last chapter, hope you guys like this one!

Chapter 32

Cassie

I hate it when they fight. They being Rachel and Jake. I care about both of them, but I never know who to follow after a fight. Do I go after my best friend who is so emotional right now it's possible she could rip my throat out or possibly cry or do I run, for lack of a better term, to my boyfriend who is likely to listen to what I have to say and I can have a good shot at actually accomplishing something?

Rachel made my decision for me. She shot me her 'I'm not in the mood' glare and I ran after Jake. I followed the direction Jake took off in, but after going a few yards, I saw no sign of him. I stopped and looked around, trying to see if I could see some footprints or something.

"Jake?" I called. "Jake, where are you?" I listened closely, but I didn't hear anything. I walked forward another couple feet. "Jake?" I called again. Still no answer. I was starting to get worried.

OK, I'll go another couple of feet and if I don't find him, I'll have Ax or Marco come help me. I reasoned.

I finally stopped and was about to go back and get Marco when I heard some leaves crackle. I froze in place, not knowing what could be hiding in the thick bushes. I turned my head and studied the area I thought the sound came from. "Jake?" I asked, feeling my heart pound and my body start to break out in sweat from fear.

Some kind of animal leaped out of the bush and tackled me to the ground. I let out a shriek and threw my hands over my face. The animal smelled me and must not have liked what it smelled and bounded after me. I quickly leaped to my feet and I spun around trying to see what else might be lurking in the forest. Something else moved and I backed up into something solid. I let out another shriek and turned. I was face to face with one of the wingedless Isriska. I couldn't think of what they were called, I was frozen in fear. He grabbed my arms roughly and leaned his face in close.

"Leave us alone!" he said, his voice harsh and loud. I winced and flinched away. His hands left me and he ran off into the woods faster than I could follow. I felt tears prick my eyes and I turned to run back in the direction the others waited and ran into something else. I let out a whimper and closed my eyes tight as hands grabbed my shoulders.

"Whoa, Cassie?" A familiar voice said. I looked up into his eyes and felt very relieve and threw my arms around him and buried my head in his chest. "Are you ok?" Jake asked me. I shook my head slightly and took a deep breathe. Jake's arms circled around my waist and he kissed the top of my head. We stood like that for a moment or two and I sighed and stepped away.

"Better?" He asked, staring into my eyes.

"Now that you're here." I said, and then narrowed my eyes. It was his fault I was threatened. "Where were you!" I demanded.

"I had to get away for a minute. Clear my head." Jake answered.

"Why didn't you answer when I called?" I asked, feeling rejected.

"I didn't hear you." Jake said, and I glared at him. "I'm serious."

"I know." I said, and shuddered slightly, my eyes looking towards the bushes where the other man had grabbed me.

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'm supposed to be asking you that." I pointed out.

"Yeah, but I'm not the one who's shaking." Jake pointed out to me. I bit my lip and looked down at the ground. "What's wrong? What happened?" He asked me.

"I-I it's nothing. I just heard something and got spooked." I lied. Jakes eyes narrowed as he studied me. "We don't know this place, I don't know these animals, anything could have been out there." Jake still didn't look convinced, but he let it drop.

"Come on, let's head back." He said, wrapping his arm around my waist and leading me back to the others.

"Do you need to talk about anything?" I asked. He shook his head.

"My cousin frustrates the hell out of me. Nothing new." Jake said and gave me a smile to make me satisfied with the answer.

"You guys normally don't fight this much." I pointed out. "Normally it's Rachel and Marco going at it."

"I know. I think Rachel needs to let out some of her anger and she's taking it out on me. I don't care; I just wish I could get her to channel her anger into something a bit more productive than kicking butt without taking names." I nodded in agreement.

"She'll be back to normal after we get the Rewolf back home."

"I don't know. I don't want to be pessimistic, but I keep wondering what if we don't make it? What if we're too late?" Jake said, and added "I mean, we'd all be affected if Tobias didn't make it, but I don't think we could control Rachel. She's loose cannon as it is." He said, looking grim.

"And you say you can't read people." I said.

"I try."

"There's nothing we can do," I said "at least, not now. We have to keep thinking that we're going to do what we're here to accomplish. We've done so much so far, what's going to stop us from trying our hardest to succeed? Nothing, because as you said, we all have something to loose if Tobias doesn't make it. It isn't just about the Animorphs anymore, it's about a friend and a fellow warrior and it's affecting each of us differently. We have to hope we succeed and if we don't…we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." I said, voicing my opinion on the matter. Jake sighed.

"You're right. I shouldn't be thinking negatively. It's bad for our already poor morale." I smacked Jake lightly on the arm and we smiled at each other. We were almost back to the others when Jake stopped and turned to face me. He stared into my eyes and moved closer to me, so there were barely inches between us. He bent his head down and was about to kiss me. I almost smiled at the thought and closed my eyes, waiting for our lips to touch.

"Hey!" Marco called, coming between the trees. Jake and I jumped apart, and looked everywhere but at each other. Marco smiled at us. "Jake and Cassie sitting in a tree"

Jake glared at Marco "What?" Jake snapped at him. Marco stopped his taunting.

"Hey man, I'm going crazy here!" he said, looking desperately at me and Jake.

"And what else is new?" Jake asked. Marco scowled.

"When are we gonna blow this joint?" He asked Jake. Jake shrugged.

"Probably good to continue now." Jake answered and Marco looked ecstatic. We followed Marco back to Ax, Rachel, and Nomikna and we resumed our earlier morphs and headed out towards the mountains. I kept my wolf senses on the bushes, waiting for something to jump out at me.

RG13: Thank you, I actually enjoy writing in Marco's pov, though I do it infrequently in this story. It seems I can be more myself with him…glad you liked it!

C101: I see Rachel like a volcano, when she erupts all hell will break loose but it doesn't last too long. :D

Tira's Host: lol, yes I know. I had to do the same as I wrote this and I contemplated many more plot twists than I included. I'm glad to see a new face; glad you enjoy this.

LN86:D Sorry for the long wait…loads of stuff going on in my life right now; some good, some bad.

Quillian Good to know you liked the last chapter. Hope this one don't disappoint.

AsianAngel mmm, well…I'll not reveal too much, but I think you can see where this is going…Thanks for the review, always refreshing to see a new 'face' so to speak.