Emmett got home more than a little flustered, He had never seen a man move that fast let alone manhandle him like that. There was no way that, that man was human, it was impossible. But he wasn't a vampire and he wasn't a shapshifter, what was he then?

Emmett was so busy running what the "man" had said to him over and over in his head that wasn't paying attention when he walked in the door. He was immediately approached by Edward, who had a worried look on his face.

"What do you mean the man that Kagome met came out of nowhere and picked you up by the neck?"

The minute Edward said that out loud the entire family gathered in the living room. Esme had a worried look on her face as she came up to Emmett to check him over.

"Oh, Emmett, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Mom, he didn't hurt me he really just scared the shit out of me. I've never had anyone treat me like a rag doll before."

"What did he tell you, son?" Carlisle asks.

"He told me to stay away from Kagome or he would kill me."

Esme, Alice, and Rosalie gasp.

"And what did you tell him?" Kostas asks.

"I told him I couldn't do that even if I wanted to, that she's my mate."

"And that's when he told you if you hurt her he'll kill you." Edward finished.

"Yeah."

"Maybe you should stay away from her, Emmett."

"Could you stay away from Bella even if someone threatened you, Edward?"

"No, I couldn't, then you need to be sure she's worth the risk."

"Trust me, she's worth everything."

"But who was that man, and how is it that he was able to manhandle you so easily?" Jasper asks

"I don't know, but one day I'll ask Kagome to tell me who or what he is."

"Why don't you ask her tomorrow?" Alice asks.

"Because then she'll know I followed her like some crazed stalker. I just now got in her good graces, I don't want to ruin it."

"Yes, it's too early in your friendship for you to be asking her things like that anyway. Give it time, Emmett, I'm sure eventually she'll tell you." Carlisle advises.

"In the meantime just get to know her, and let her get to know you." Esme tells her son.

"Okay." Emmett says with a nod, "Well I think I'll go hunting, anyone care to join me?"

Jasper and Kostas stand up and head out the door with Emmett. They decide to go hunting for grizzly bears, Emmett's favorite to help him calm down.

In the meantime Kagome gets home and goes straight down to her room to call Shippou. She knows it's late in Italy but she doesn't care, she has to hear her son's voice.

The phone rings twice before Shippou answers,

"Hello, mother."

"Shippou, is that really you?"

"Yes of course it's me, Kagome, I've been expecting your call all night."

"You knew that Sesshomaru was going to talk to me today?"

"Yes, he told me that he was going to warn you about the dangers in the area."

"Oh the vampires and the watered down wolf demons, yes he told me."

"They're shapeshifter, mother."

"Shapeshifter, what do you mean?"

"They are as you say watered down wolf demons, but they're mostly human now. They have the power to shift into their wolf form though they have none of the actual strengths of a wolf demon or the size of a true wolf demon, but their larger than normal wolves." Shippou explains.

"Are the decendants from Kouga's wolves?" Kagome asks.

"No, they were here long before we showed up, but they are decendant of some wolf demon tribe of some sort. Now only certain members of this particular tribe carry the gene."

"Oh I see.

"Sesshomaru told me that you've already come across a vampire and that you were able to purify him." Shippou comments

"Yes, I used one of my sacred arrows on him and he turned to dust. I do have a question what's the difference between those vampires with red eyes and those with amber eyes?"

"You've met some with amber eyes?"

"Yes, there are some that go to my school, four of them to be exact, they pretend to be students."

"How interesting, those with amber eyes feed off the blood of animals only, the one with red eyes feed exclusively off the blood of humans." Shippou informs his mother.

"Huh, that is interesting, so they can be trusted around humans?"

"Not really, they can still snap and go after a human, they just have a lot more restraint than normal vampires. But if you're saying that these vampires interact with humans on a daily basis, they have even more restraint that others of their kind. Why do you ask?"

"My cousin is dating one."

"What?! Does she know what he is?"

"I don't know, I have a feeling that she does."

"Hmm, she must be his mate then, if he hasn't attacked her."

"Mate, you think so?"

"That's the only reason I could think of for him to put himself through the agony of being so close to a human." Shipppou reasons, "Well, Kagome it's late and I have to go to work in the morning, it was nice talking to you."

"It was nice talking to you too, Shippou."

"As soon as I get some free time, I'll try to come visit you."

"That would be wonderful, Shippou."

"Bye for now, Kagome."

"Bye, Shippou."

Kagome hangs up the phone with a content smile on her face. She is so happy to have been able to talk to Shippou even if it was only for a little while. After her little talk with Shippou, Kagome started thinking about the Cullens, she found that she had much more respect for Emmett and his siblings. If they purposely went against their own nature just so that they could lead a semi-normal life, that was worthy of her respect.

Kagome felt her fondness for Emmett grow a little bit more that night and she found that she couldn't wait to see him the next day.

Emmett never did ask Kagome about the mysterious man that she had met up with in Port Angeles, he was afraid that if she found out that he was stalking her she would want nothing to do with him anymore. And that was not something that he could stand.

The weeks went by, Emmett and Kagome's friendship grew stronger. It was obvious to everyone that they had a mutual attraction towards one another, though they never broached the subject. They spent a great deal of time together, studying and hanging out, Emmett would always offer to pick her up and take her home from school, she would sometimes accept. Since she had yet to buy her own car and she really did enjoy spending time with him, Kagome didn't see any reason to say no.

One day Emmett and Kagome were approaching the lunch table and they heard Mike and Jessica talking about her Valedictorian speech she was suppose to give.

"My fellow students. Cool. Right? Wow. Okey, right? - Cute. We are the future. Anything is possible... ... If you just believe." Mike says

"Nice" Angela states.

"Blah, blah, blah... Perfect. And got your self a speech." Mike tells Jessica as he rips of the page and hands it to Jessica.

Jessica crumples the paper and tosses it at him, "No, this will be my speech. When I want everyone to throw diplomas at my head. So... Thank you."

"Ya gotta embrace the cliches, Jess." Mike tells her.

"They have the bread and butter of all valedictorians." Eric comments

"And that is why you are not valedictorian. And Jess doesn't need cliches. Speech is gonna be epic." Angela tells her boyfriend.

"Epic? It'll change lives."

Kagome and Emmett look at each other and roll their eyes, suddenly Alice and Jasper sit down next to Kagome. Alice looks incredibly excited.

"I've decided to throw a party."

"After all how many time are we going to graduate high School"

Emmett stifles a laugh, Kagome furrows her brow and gives him an odd look.

"A party at your place" Angela asks.

"I've never seen your place." Jessica says.

"Yeah neither have I," Kagome adds.

"No one has ever seen their place." Eric points out.

"Another party, Alice?" Edward says in a disappointed tone.

"It'll be fun." Alice insists.

"Yeah, that's what you said the last time." Bella reminds her.

"What happened the last time?" Kagome asks.

"I'll tell you some other time," Emmett whispers in her ear.

Suddenly Alice gets this blank look on her face, her eyes glaze over and she freezes in her chair. Edward freezes a bit as well, no one at the table notices except for Kagome, though she doesn't make it obvious. She notices that their demonic aura spikes a little bit, and she wonders why that is.

The rest of the day goes about as normal, when they get home Kagome is informed that Bella and Edward will be going to Jacksonville that coming weekend to see Bella's mother. Bella asks Kagome to help her pack.

"I wish I had a third ticket so you could come with me, Kagome."

"That's okay, Bella, you and Edward have fun in Florida."

"What are you going to do this weekend?"

I don't know, hang out with Emmett, I guess." Kagome says as she lays on Bella's bed.

"How are things going between you two?" Bella asks.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean are you two dating, you two seem awfully close."

"No, we're not dating, Bella. Emmett and I are just good friend." Kagome tells her cousin.

Bella goes and sits on the bed in front of Kagome, "Would you go out with him if he asked you?"

Kagome begins to blush, "I might if he asked, but I don't think he sees me that way."

"Oh, believe me, Kagome, Emmett sees you that way, trust me."

"You think so?" Kagome asks with a little hope in her voice.

"Oh, I know so, Edward says that you're all Emmett talks about.

"I hope you're right."

The night that Bella and Edward left, the Cullens were in the woods preparing to chase down and kill Victoria. They were all spread out waiting for her to make an appearance.

"You sure this is where you saw her?" Jasper asks.

"She's almost here," Alice confirms

Alice spins and looks at Emmett, "On your left!"

Emmett explodes to his left, Rosalie right behind him. Jasper and Carlisle go wide, looking to cut Victoria off, Esme and Alice following up the rear. Victoria racing through the trees, tense but not afraid. Escaping is what she's good at. She reaches a ravine, she doesn't break stride, just leaps across it. Carlisle pulls up short, yells to Emmett and Rosalie.

"Wait. She's in their territory." Carlisle informs them.

"She'll get away," Rosalie yells.

"No she won't," Jasper tells her.

On the other side of the ravine, three giant wolves leap onto the scene and take up the chase after Victoria. Sam in the lead in his enormous black wolf form. A parallel chase ensues, the wolves and the Cullens keeping to their sides of the ravine, which she realize is the line that demarcates the territories, Victoria leaps back over.

"All ours now, " Emmett says as he races off after her.

Emmett grabs hold of her shoulders and roll head over keester, Victoria uses the momentum to her advantage and flings Emmett off and over her into a tree.

She takes the split second he's down to leap back over to wolf-land and keeps running.

"Emmett don't!" Esme yells.

But Emmett seeing red flies over the ravine. The second his feet hit the other side, Paul in wolf form turns to face him, there's a moment of standoff. It would be simple enough for Emmett to defuse the situation by jumping back, he doesn't. Paul growls with bravado. That just makes Emmett smile. Victoria, at a safe distance now, slowly looks back, surprised to see what is happening. She studies the conflict with curiosity. Paul and Emmett charge each other, they roll in the dirt for a dozen yards.

Carlisle calls Emmett back to their side of the treaty line, and Emmett reluctantly obeys, just then Alice gasps her eyes glaze over and she grabs onto Emmetts arm.

"Kagome."

Emmett's dead hear clenches, "What about Kagome?"

"She's in the woods, Victoria is going to stumble upon her."

"Alice, where?"

"In the woods close to the Swan house." Alice tells him.

Emmett takes off running, he only hopes he gets there in time to save his mate.