"Dude, my mom totally just saw me walking into the woods," Embry said as he approached Jacob. The whole pack was meant to meet to go over the final strategy for the obstacle course, which was only two days away, but Jacob was the only one who'd shown up so far, "She's gonna be fucking pissed when I come home."

"Dude, you gotta tell her." Whether or not to let Tiffany Call into the secret was a conversation they'd had time and time again, but Jacob increasingly saw it as necessary. The fights between Embry and his mom were reaching a breaking point and Jacob knew that it was taking a toll on Embry, even if he didn't say so. Even now, Embry looked stressed and tired and his voice was tense.

"I've been thinking about it." This was the most that Embry had ever moved on the topic and Jacob was more than a little surprised at this revelation. But before Jacob could say anything, Embry continued, "I've been trying to drop hints. About the wolf thing and Alex. Cause I might be able to hide the whole turning into a furry animal thing but I feel like Alex might be harder."

"Going well then?" Jacob asked, raising his eyebrows at his friend.

Embry didn't quite meet Jacob's eyes as he spoke, "Yeah, it is. But I haven't told him yet."

"About?"

"About any of it," Embry admitted, "I don't know how."

"You could ask Jared or Sam." It wasn't like anyone in Jacob's pack would know how to tell their imprint everything. Claire was kept in the dark and Nessie just knew. And Sam, despite sometimes being a dick, would be helpful in a situation like this.

Embry shrugged, "I might. Or maybe I'll just fuck it up and be the first person to scare their imprint away."

"If Sam could get Emily to stay with him, then I'm sure you'll be able to get Alex to stay with you."

"I don't know, man. What time is it? Where are the others?" Embry's turned away from Jacob and looked into the horizon. The sun was just beginning to set, and yet Embry and Jacob were the only two gathered. Jacob didn't have a watch on him, but he was guessing that the others were at least twenty minutes late by now.

It was Jacob's turn to shrug, "Beats me."

Jacob had seen Leah just earlier that day, during the weekly meeting with the Elders that they'd been attending together for almost a year now. But she'd arrived late, barely said anything other than to present the new patrol schedule for Jacob's pack, and then left early before Jacob could talk to her. It was disappointing, to say the least. He had expected Leah to acknowledge him and treat him normally, but it was like she had something better to do with her time.

Jacob just knew that Leah would say yes eventually. But he also knew that he couldn't force her into it; she had to come to it on her own. But he was hoping she could figure it out without completely ignoring him. And Jacob was acutely aware that Leah was currently a beautiful, single woman. He couldn't be the only person who was interested in her and Jacob hated to think that she'd pick someone else. But he didn't know if he could compete with someone older, someone who was new. And that scared him.

"Not like Seth to be late," Embry commented.

"No, it's not," Jacob agreed. That also made Jacob nervous. Surely Seth would show up; Jacob wasn't sure he could take both of the Clearwater siblings avoiding him.

"Maybe we should just phase and practice without them," Embry suggested.

Horrible idea, Jacob thought to himself grimly. But he tried to keep his face even as he said, "Er, actually, I was just going to time you guys. I wasn't going to run the course myself."

"You don't think you need any practice?" Embry shot Jacob a doubtful look.

"I can take Sam." Jacob was fairly confident that he could, anyway, "I don't think he's been practicing or anything. He seemed pretty caught up in wedding stuff when I saw him at the meeting with the Elders this morning."

This was not a lie. Sam came in a few minutes before the meeting started and jabbering on nonstop about everything Emily needed him to do for the wedding, which was less than two weeks away at this point.

"Are you going to that?" Embry asked.

"Yeah, of course, I am. Are you not?" Jacob looked curiously at Embry. Jacob and Sam had been on decent terms for months now and Jacob had a feeling that Emily wouldn't take kindly to anyone's absence at the wedding. Besides, Leah was still a bridesmaid, so any rift between the packs seemed to no longer be an issue.

"No, I am," Embry assured Jacob quickly, but he hesitated before speaking again, "But you're not bringing a date or anything, are you?"

"What? No. Who would I bring?"

"I was just asking! I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't be the only single person there."

"Our whole pack is single, as far as I know."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But Seth will have Nessie and Quil will have Claire and you know how they can get with things. I was just worried. And you never know who Leah will show up with. I wouldn't put it past her to show up with some guy just to piss Sam off."

"Dude, the wedding is next weekend," Jacob rolled his eyes, although there was a definite possibility that Leah would pull something like that. Maybe that's why she was avoiding him. Maybe she was off trying to find a hot date in Seattle right now. If someone who looked like Leah approached him and asked him to be a date to her cousin and ex's wedding, Jacob would probably say yes, "If Leah wants to show up with someone, she needs to find them quickly. And I definitely don't have a date."

"Right, well, that's good," Embry said quickly. He was still acting a bit strange, but Jacob ignored it. People with imprints were just fucking weird, that's what this past year and a half of wolfing had taught him. In some ways, it was a shame that Embry had joined them. Jacob could have used a sane friend.

"You're acting weird, dude," Jacob muttered under his breath, but Embry ignored him.

"Is that Quil?" Embry nodded his head in the direction of La Push. They were deep in the forest, far enough where only the loudest of noises could be heard from the town and the closest hiking trail. But there was a distinctly human set of footsteps heading their direction that would be missed by human ears.

"Either him or Seth."

"Nah, it's Quil. Listen closely."

Jacob didn't have to listen very closely, because within seconds of Embry saying that, Quil was yelling through the woods.

"Hello! Anybody out there?" Quil's voice echoed through the forest. He wasn't making any attempt to be quiet; any hikers on a nearby trail would probably have heard him. Jacob half expected to hear somebody else answer. He hoped no one from Sam's pack was in the woods, otherwise their practice session was sure to be foiled.

"We're here!" Embry yelled back. He shot Jacob a look that plainly said I told you so.

Within thirty seconds, Quil came trekking through the trees. The only thing that could possibly explain his absence was a smattering of blue, red, and green paint that was dotted across his chest.

"Where's the other two?" Quil demanded, not bothering to say hello or give any other type of greeting or acknowledgment.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Jacob said, "You're late too, though… You and Claire enjoy finger painting?"

"It wasn't supposed to be finger painting," Quil glanced down at himself. He wasn't the least bit embarrassed by the various streaks of paint on his chest, "But you know how it is with toddlers."

"Actually, I really don't," Embry said bluntly.

"Neither do I," Jacob laughed in agreement.

Quil rolled his eyes, though their comments didn't seem to phase him, "Where is Seth when you need him?"

"No idea." Jacob crossed his arms and leaned back on the nearby tree. Why no one in his pack had any respect for the time was beyond him.

"Not like him to be so late," Embry said.

"It really isn't," Quil agreed, before changing the subject, "Hey, Jake, why did you and Leah finally change the patrol schedule?"

"The patrol schedule changed?" Embry demanded, "No one ever tells me anything around here."

"Yeah, and we finally have a shift together again! Tomorrow night, baby! Me and you!" Quil crowed.

"Nice," Embry grinned as he high-fived Quil. Embry turned to Jacob, who avoided his friend's eye, "Who is Leah going to patrol with?"

"Uh, me, actually," Jacob said, praying to himself that no one asked too many questions, "She's gonna help me learn how to keep my thoughts to myself and all that."

"I could have taught you that. I'm the one who taught Leah, after all." There was no mistaking the pride – and hurt - in Embry's voice.

"I wanna learn this keeping your thoughts to yourself shit," Quil interjected, "You can teach me."

"Well, I can teach you now since apparently, we're patrolling together again," Embry offered spitefully.

"Don't act like that! I missed patrolling with you, Embry! Though I will miss patrolling with the kid as well, he's too sweet for his own good. Always amping me up…"

"Someone's coming," Jacob interrupted his friends, having heard a stick breaking in the distance.

"Just so long as it's not Paul," Quil said happily.

Embry tilted his head towards the direction that Jacob was standing, "It's definitely Seth. Doesn't sound like Leah's with him, though."

Embry was right. There was only one set of footsteps that could be heard trekking through the woods, and they were too light to be anyone but Seth, Brady, or Colin. And Jacob happened to know that Brady was in Oregon with his family and Colin was grounded (not that being grounded had stopped any of the wolves before, but Jacob knew that Sam tended to try to keep Brady and Colin on good terms with their families).

"Seth?" Jacob called out.

"Hey, guys! Look! Emily gave me stuff to bring!" Seth appeared through a gap in the trees, looking as happy as ever to see everyone. In his hands was a grocery bag stuffed to the brim. Without hesitating, Seth dumped the contents onto the floor of the woods. Lucky for Jacob (and everyone else) the contents - cookies, muffins, and even four small loaves of banana bread – were all wrapped up, so nothing went to waste.

"Sweet!" Quil didn't wait to dive into the pile and grab a loaf of bread and a muffin. Before Jacob could make a move, Embry was swopping in as well. With inhuman speed, Jacob had a loaf of banana bread and a little sandwich bag of two sugar cookies in his hands.

"Where's Leah?" Jacob asked as he opened the bag of cookies. Even the presence of baked goods from Emily couldn't distract his heads from thoughts of Leah.

"She's not coming," Seth said with a mouth full of muffin.

"Why not?" Jacob asked before he could stop himself. He let out a breath, feeling slightly deflated as he realized he wouldn't be seeing Leah today. He needed to see her and make sure she hadn't changed her mind about him.

"She went shopping in Port Angeles with my mom,"

"Leah went shopping?" Quil said it, but Jacob was thinking it too.

"Stuff for the wedding, I think. Emily went too," Seth said in between bites, gesturing at the baked goods.

"I'll never understand girls," Embry declared as he freed a muffin and popped about half of it in his mouth.

"Me either," Jacob agreed, "Me either."

It took them, as the teenage werewolves they were, less than ten minutes to eat all of the treats that Emily had sent their way. Jacob only felt a little sick after all of the sugar. Afterward, when the bag that Seth had brought sat empty, Quil finally turned to Jacob.

"What's the plan, Oh Mighty Alpha?"

"The plan is to beat Sam's pack," Jacob said simply. He had been too preoccupied to think of an exact plan, other than to practice and hope for the best.

"How are we gonna do it?"

"We're just gonna be faster, stronger, and tougher than them."

"You don't have a plan, do you?" Embry looked at Jacob with an unimpressed look on his face.

"No, I don't," Jacob admitted breezily. They had already figured that out, so there was no point in lying, "So let's just practice and get this over with. Seth, you go first."

"Me? Why do I have to go first?" Seth complained.

"You're the youngest and you'll have to go first on Tuesday," Embry answered for Jacob, "Quil, you go with him."

"Me?" Quil balked.

"Do you guys want to practice or not?" Jacob knew the answer, but he felt he had to ask anyway.

They all exchanged looks, before Quil finally spoke, "We just ate all this food."

"Is Sam's pack really practicing all that much anyway, do you think?" Embry asked.

"Sam's busy planning a wedding," Seth offered with a shrug.

Sam was busy planning a wedding, but Jacob wasn't sure that Jared, Paul, Brady, or Colin had the same excuse. Of course, Jared and Paul both worked and Jacob knew that Paul spent the majority of his free time with Rachel and he guessed that Jared did the same with Kim. And frankly, Jacob was pretty sure they could beat Brady and Colin.

"So are we not going to practice, then?" Jacob asked.

"You said it," Quil quipped, "I have a coupon for buy one get one free large pizzas."

"Fuck yeah!" Embry cheered.

"We can go to my house," Seth suggested, "Since Leah and my mom are gone."

Secretly, that idea thrilled Jacob. It gave him an excuse to hang out at the Clearwater's place without looking too desperate and eat pizza. Since he was somewhat convinced Leah was avoiding him, this gave him the best chance to see her. Though he was still a little bit worried that they had barely practiced at all… But the idea of seeing Leah was too tempting.

"Okay," Jacob agreed, "I like pizza."


There was a buzz of excitement and anticipation in the air as Jacob approached the starting point of the obstacle course that made it feel like there was really something special happening. It was, of course, just another one of the forced bonding exercises that the Elders had insisted upon, but the fact that it wasn't just another stupid bonfire helped fuel everyone's excitement.

Jacob wasn't exactly late, per se, but by the time he reached the clearing, it seemed like he was the last one there. Sam was minding the grill, while Paul and Jared were talking to Rachel and Kim, each with a plate stacked with a giant pile of food. Brady and Colin were off in a corner, making a show of stretching, although it didn't look like anyone was paying any attention to them. Embry and Quil were sitting on a log, not too far away from the food, as soon as they saw Jacob, they waved their hands, beckoning him to come over.

Only one wolf was missing: Leah. Jacob still hadn't seen Leah or even heard from her. She hadn't shown up before he left the Clearwater's house and they hadn't been on patrol together yet. And while two days ago he'd been confident that he could get her to make up her mind and say yes, now he wasn't so sure.

Leah was as stubborn as they came and, loath as he was to admit it, she had some good points. He could remember how torn up she was when Sam first dumped her and how angry she was when she finally found out the truth. And he couldn't blame her for never wanting to go through that again.

Jacob surveyed the area once again, hoping he'd somehow missed Leah. But a quick second glance around told him that she wasn't there yet. It wasn't too surprising, seeing as Leah never showed up on time to these things when she even bothered to show up at all.

There was one surprise though: Tiffany Call was standing by Sue and Jared's mom with her arms crossed and without a plate or a drink in her hands. Jacob had never once thought of Ms. Call to be a relaxed or calm woman, but she looked especially tense standing next to Sue. It was a strange sight to see.

Jacob kept glancing over at Ms. Call as he made his way to Embry and Quil, almost sure that he was hallucinating her presence. But she never disappeared and based on the way that Ms. Cameron and Sue were talking, she wasn't thrilled to be there.

"I told her everything," Embry announced proudly as soon as Jacob joined them on the log they were sitting on, "She took the whole gay thing way better than the whole werewolf thing."

"Really?" Quil asked. He moved over so that Jacob had a chance to sit down.

"Yeah, she said she always knew there was a chance that she'd have a gay son, but she never had any idea that she might have a werewolf son."

"I guess that makes sense," Jacob said after thinking for a second. It wasn't like Ms. Call had grown up around their legends. And even the parents who had grown up hearing the legends didn't always take it well.

"Still grounded though," Embry continued sadly, "For lying to her and for keeping secrets. But she'd said she'd give me reprieve for patrol and it's just for the next week, not the rest of eternity."

"That's stupid." Quil kicked a rock that was sitting by the log and it flew across the open space, before hitting a tree nearby.

Embry shrugged, "I'm just happy she doesn't think I'm a drug addict anymore."

"Where's Claire, Quil?" Jacob asked. Charlie had appeared, holding the hand of a child who appeared to be nearly in elementary school. It took Jacob a second to realize it was Nessie. He hadn't seen her in a while and her freakishly fast growth had not slowed down.

"She's not coming. She doesn't actually know about the wolf stuff, you know, so I didn't want to scare her. Did you invite Alex, Embry?"

"No. I haven't told him yet, either. But I think he'll handle it well. He's told me he believes in ghosts and supernatural stuff. I haven't asked him about what he thinks of werewolves yet, though," Embry ran his hands through his short hair.

"A good start," Quil said, "I've been telling Claire all the legends and the stories, but she's still a bit young to understand it, of course."

"It'll make it easier for her to understand it in the future, though," Embry responded kindly, "You can figure out the best way to tell her later in life."

"Gonna go get food," Jacob mumbled before jumping to his feet, eager to leave behind his friend's talk of imprints. The idea still made him sick to his stomach, even more so now that he was beginning to realize that maybe Leah had a point about everything.

He grabbed a plate and loaded it up with a hotdog, some pasta salad, a can of Coke, and a bag of chips. He didn't want to eat too much, lest it slow him down during the obstacle course. And Sam was still manning the grill and Jacob wouldn't put it past him to poison the food to take out Jacob's pack. But since Paul had grabbed a hot dog from the same pile just a few minutes ago, Jacob decided it was safe.

"You ready for this?" Leah appeared suddenly beside Jacob, surprising him.

"Where did you come from?" Jacob demanded, and then, before he could stop himself, he said, "Have you been avoiding me?"

Leah actually laughed at him, "That obsessed with me, kid? I've just been busy, Jake. That's all. Helping with wedding stuff and shit. Plus I have a job, you know. We can't all be teenagers who are free to do nothing all summer."

It was a double jab at him, but Jacob ignored it, "I'm just surprised you're even here."

Leah rolled her eyes, "Yeah, like I'd miss a chance to see Paul and Sam get their assess whooped."

"You think we can do it?"

"Have some more confidence in your own pack, mighty Alpha," Leah said breezily. She grabbed the bag of chips out of his hands and popped one in her mouth.

"Hey!" he complained.

Leah shrugged, "You can share. When's this thing going to get started, anyway?"

As an answer to her question, Old Quil grabbed the old bullhorn that they'd gathered for this event and yelled that the races would start in five minutes. Leah and Jacob returned to the log where the rest of the pack was sitting and waited for the events to begin.

Quil, by the sheer nature of his size, easily bested Colin. While Seth and Brady's fight was more evenly matched, Brady managed to come out on top – though just by a hair. Brady had speed and a temper that Seth, in his ever-soft demeanor, couldn't quite match. But still, they cheered him on.

"The kid's just never really been a fighter," Leah said sadly, as she shook her head, "Still not sure how he's related to me. He might be adopted."

"He tried his best," Jacob could never truly be disappointed by Seth, even if the kid couldn't fight or win a race.

"It's a competition," Leah disagreed with a more violent shake of her head, "He needed to do better than his best."

"I just think it's a good thing that we haven't had to fight anyone for real," Quil said, joining Leah and Jacob on the same log that they'd been sitting on earlier in the night, "Because I'm not sure Seth could handle taking down a vampire. But these early matches are child's play, anyway. Now this, Embry versus Paul, this could be interesting."

Embry and Paul had both phased and both lined up at the starting line. Paul was nipping at Embry already, but Embry had a determined look about him and was ignoring him. This was one match that Jacob didn't have a good feeling about.

"Ten bucks on Paul," Leah said.

"Leah! You can't bet against your own pack!" Seth, who had just rejoined them in human form, chastised.

Leah shrugged, "Embry's gone soft, especially after he imprinted. And Paul is older."

"Yeah, but Embry's bigger," Quil countered.

"Shut up and let's watch them." Jacob had no idea who would win this one. He hoped Embry won if only to shut Paul up and knock him down a bit, but he also knew that Paul was bigger than Embry and a fierce competitor.

Jacob watched with a bated breath as Embry and Paul lined up at the starting point. Old Quil waved the flag and both of them were racing towards the wall that they had to get over. Embry was several paces in front of Paul when they approached the wall, but Embry stumbled on his first attempt across the wall.

"Come on, Embry!" Quil yelled beside Jacob, "You can do it!"

But it was too late. Even as Embry backed up and tried to cross it again, Paul flew across the wall, barely struggling at all.

"Goddamnit," Quil muttered under his breath.

"Maybe he can catch up," Jacob said, though he wasn't hopeful. Even though Embry managed to get over the wall on his third attempt, he couldn't seem to catch up with Paul, who somehow navigated all of the obstacles with ease. Soon, they were out of sight anyways, making it impossible to know what was going on.

"I guess they had been practicing, after all," Seth said as Paul neared the finish line, Embry trailing him distantly. Jacob had been thinking the same thing.

"Guess so," Jacob agreed quietly.

"It's just for fun," Seth said cheerfully. Of course, Seth didn't see it as a serious competition.

"Jesus Christ," Leah swore beside him.

"You know this means that you have to beat Jared," Quil told Leah aggressively, "Otherwise there won't be any point in Jake racing Sam. His pack will have won no matter what."

"I can do it," Leah replied confidently, "Don't you boys worry."

And with that, she stood up and left for the phasing area to prepare for her race. But Jacob was worried. Leah was so much smaller than Jared, even if she was faster. He didn't see how she could win.

"I can't watch," Seth groaned as Leah and Jared lined up at the starting line. Secretly, Jacob agreed with him. He just wanted to get this over; he knew any chance of Leah spending any time with him tonight would disappear if Jared won.

Old Quil waved the flag and both Leah and Jared took off. Leah reached the wall first, but she didn't make it over, allowing Jared time to catch up with her. But he stumbled over the wall, too, giving Leah a chance to catch up. On her second attempt, Leah cleared the wall, but Jared did, too. They were neck and neck for the next two obstacles. And from there, it was too hard to see the course with their human eyes and it was impossible to know what was happening without phasing, but there was no way to do that without joining the Pack Mind and messing up Leah's concentration.

"Look, Jake, that's Leah in the front! Leah's gonna do it!" Quil yelled, pointing to where two blurry shapes could just be made out on the horizon.

Somehow, someway, Leah had beaten Jared. While she might not be as strong as Jared, she was faster, and there was no doubt that it was Leah's wolf that was barreling now towards the finish line, full speed ahead.

"Go, Leah!" Seth screamed beside Jacob.

Leah crossed the finish line, barely managing to slow down in time to stop from running into the trees. Cheers from their entire pack echoed through the forest – Leah had managed to even the score and now it just came down to Sam and Jacob.

"You're up next, Jake," Embry hit Jacob on the back as Jacob stood up, "Go show Sam who the true Alpha is."

Jacob didn't say anything in response – he didn't want them to know how nervous he was – but he did nod at his pack on their log as he walked over to the designated phasing area. Sam was already there, but he ignored Jacob as he approached. Together, in silence, they waited for Jared and Leah to come back and get dressed.

When Jared and Leah returned to their human forms, Jacob had never seen such a smug look on Leah's face. She was positively glowing – and Jacob couldn't blame her. It was certainly an achievement.

"Great job, Leah!" Jacob told her as he approached her.

"You didn't think I could do it, did you?"

"I had all the confidence in the world in you," he said calmly, before admitting, "But I also knew that Jared could put up a fight."

"Nothing I couldn't handle," Leah ran her hands through her hair, patting it down as if trying to fix it, "Now go get Sam and pummel him to the ground."

"I'll do my best," Jacob promised. He was more nervous than before.

"Just remember," Leah said lowly, right into his ear, "Sam's seen me naked."

Her words made Jacob's face flush, but she didn't give him to respond before she walked off into the crowd. Jacob could hear the rest of the pack cheering her arrival and her besting of Jared.

Jacob phased quickly, as Leah's words echoed in his head. He knew it was meant to enrage him, but all he could think about was what Leah would look like naked. He'd caught glimpses of her, back when she had first phased and had no control, but nothing recently. Not for the first time, Jacob was glad that Sam could no longer read his mind.

Jacob. Sam's edited voice echoed through Jacob's head.

Sam.

Good luck. There didn't seem to be any malice in Sam's voice; he seemed genuine.

Good luck, Jacob echoed, before adding, May the best wolf win.

Taking their place at the start line, they both got into position. Jacob stared down at Sam. They hadn't been this close to a fight in nearly a year and the anger that had once caused Jacob to hate Sam wasn't quite as strong anymore. It was just supposed to be for fun, for entertainment, but somehow, it felt like it was something more. They had been two packs, two separate entities for the majority of Jacob's time as a wolf now. But still, Leah's words reverberated in Jacob's head. Leah was not at the type to want guys to fight over her honor, but she knew what she was doing when she said it.

Jacob trained his eyes on Old Quil and the second he saw the flag move, he took off running, as fast as he possibly could. He had barely practiced the course but he knew it well enough, especially after watching four other matches.

"Go, Jacob!" Leah screamed, though he barely registered the words. He flew across the wall that Embry had stumbled on and began running the sharp curves around the logs that had been set up. Occasionally, Jacob caught a blurry figure beside him, but he knew better than to sit and look at it. Instead, he just focused on the course. The sheer size of his wolf alone made it quite a challenge to get down small enough to pass under the "Army Crawl" section, and for a second, Jacob saw Sam getting ahead of him.

But by the time Jacob crossed the finish line, Sam was a good twenty feet behind him. Jacob let out a howl and he could hear Quil, Embry, Seth, and Leah all cheering wildly behind him. Jacob had won and with it, his pack had won.

"Good race, Jacob," Sam said to him once they'd both phased back to their human forms and put clothes back on, "Congratulations."

"Thanks, Sam. It was a good race."

"I'll get you next time," Sam said, but his voice was light. There was no bitterness or disdain in his voice that Jacob could detect.

The party (if one could call it that) lasted for a long time, especially considering it was a Wednesday night. Sam's entire pack congratulated Jacob, handling their loss with more grace than expected (Paul still sulked the entire night and ended up leaving early with Rachel, but not before he mentioned time and time again that he beat Embry). There was a pleasant, happy atmosphere throughout the entire night. Even Ms. Call seemed to be having a decent time, talking to the various parents and Emily, though she never really looked relaxed.

Jacob was able to catch up with Emily about the upcoming wedding and Jared about his family's restaurant and the new songs he'd been writing. Kim had told him about the classes she was planning on taking in the fall, although he'd cut her off before she could ask him any questions about his class load. For one, he didn't have it yet. But for another, that was not something he was planning on thinking about until it was much, much closer to the start of the school year.

Eventually, Jacob stepped away from the crowd, which was starting to thin out to get some water and take a breather. Seth had brought Nessie home with Charlie and Embry and his mom had said their goodbyes a few minutes ago. Quil was talking with Old Quil and Billy with Colin and Colin's mom, but Brady was nowhere to be seen. Jared had carried Kim off a while ago. Sam had left for patrol and Emily was packing up the food.

Suddenly, he felt a warm hand on his arm. He turned around and saw Leah looking up at him.

"I'm leaving," she told him quietly. All the other wolves were so immersed in their own conversations that it seemed unlikely they'd be listening in and she spoke too lowly for any humans to hear.

"Okay."

"I just thought you might want to know."

"Don't avoid me again for so long, will you?" Jacob asked. He was distinctly aware that it might sound a little desperate, but he didn't have it in him to care. She needed to know that he wanted to see her.

"I won't make any promises, but we do have patrol tomorrow so I'll probably show up for that."

"You will show up for that or I'll Alpha order you to." They both knew it was an empty threat, but Leah laughed anyways.

"Sure you will."

"And Jacob?"

"Yeah?"

"I am thinking about everything. I just need more time."

"As long as you're still thinking about it."

"I am, Jake, I promise."

She hadn't said no yet and that was really all Jacob could ask for.

"Good night, Leah."

"Night, Jake."