Chapter Four

Did he just say that? Really? I'm his "imprint"?

Well, he sure as hell could have fooled me. I mean, what has he been doing for the past three years? Where has he been? Did he just figure it out when Jacob showed up? Or has he suddenly gotten afraid that I might not stick around and wait for him forever?

"Will you please say something, Teag?" He begs.

"Sorry if I'm not the most articulate after I've just been informed that my best friend is a werewolf and I'm like … the yang to his yin or whatever," I snap.

I can have a bit of a temper. It's the Irish in me, you know? I do try my hardest to keep it on lock, but sometimes it's hard. Especially when everyone around me is completely ridiculous.

"Actually, you would be yin," he corrects me. "Yin is soft and substantial and calm. Yang is restless and hard."

"Oh, shut up, Gavin," I scoff. I can't help laughing, though. He would say something like that. I'm not about to argue with him about yin and yang because, quite honestly, I don't care. He's trying to change the subject. "I'm angry with you, you know."

"Why are you angry with me?" Gavin asks.

"Because I have known you for three years and this is the first time this has come up," I remind him. "I'm supposed to be your best friend."

"You are my best friend," he assures me, "you're more than my best friend. You're my soul mate."

"If you don't shut up with all the corney lines," I warn, "I'm going to stab you with some silver or something."

"That's a myth," he states as he holds up his right hand. There's a silver band with an intricately carved design depicting wolves on it. "I actually like silver a lot. Much better than gold, not nearly as tacky."

"It's pretty," I state as I look down at the ring. Why have I never noticed that before?

"If you like it I can have another one made for you," he tells me. I'm just picturing what it would look like on my finger when I remember the matter at hand.

"You need to stop changing the subject," I order. Suddenly there's a loud thump on the roof outside my window, and Gavin immediately gets between me and it, obviously ready to protect me from some threat. My heart leaps into my throat at the thought of it being Jacob in my window.

But it's just Linden.

"Sorry," he says, "all the doors and windows downstairs are locked, and I didn't think you would appreciate my breaking in."

"That's very kind of you, Linden," I say, "I'm glad someone is concerned about my mental health." Gavin just gives me a look that says 'stop being so dramatic.' I have become very good at deciphering his looks.

"We've got him, Gavin," Linden cuts to business, and this gets my attention.

"Jacob?" I ask as I stand up.

"Who else?" Linden replies.

"That was fast," Gavin says, sounding pretty impressed. Obviously he is not used to such efficiency.

"You haven't hurt him, have you?" I demand as I maneuver my way around Gavin so that I can see Linden more easily. Instead of answering my question, Linden just looks at Gavin.

"Answer her," Gavin sighs.

"This is ridiculous …" I mutter.

"We haven't hurt him," Linden assures me, "we haven't even touched him. We've got him cornered up near half dome."

"Has he tried to attack?" Gavin asks as he leaves my room, completely forgetting about me. Well, that's not going to fly. At all. I follow him.

"No, he's just been running. He doesn't know his way around here, though. It was pretty easy for us to herd him into a good place," Linden replies.

"Guys, need I remind you that he hasn't done anything wrong?" I ask, just in case anyone is listening.

"He's stepped on our turf," Gavin replies, "that's enough."

"Well, how was he supposed to know that he was walking into a bunch of pig-headed jerks?" I inquire. I don't get an answer to this question. That doesn't really bother me, though. I just continue to follow them.

"Where do you think you're going?" Gavin asks.

"Well, I'm Jacob's imprint," I remind him, simply because I know that it will bother him to hear me say it, "I'm not about to let you brutes abuse him."

"You're not coming with us," Gavin corrects.

"And you're going to stop me?" I ask. "I know how to get to half dome. You can leave without me, but I'll just go there myself, and who knows what will happen to me then? I might get eaten by a bear or something."

"You shouldn't have told her, man," Linden states.

"Yeah, I can see that, now," Gavin replies, exasperated. "All right, go ahead. I'll be right there. Just keep him in one spot, we'll find you." Now it's Linden's turn to sigh. He turns and goes, probably ready to morph into wolf mode or whatever it is they do. "You're not going to make me regret this, are you?"

"You mean you're not regretting it already?" I joke. He smiles. I really do love it when he does that.

Gavin stops the Beemer right at the beginning of one of the trails that leads up to half dome, the magnificent granite structure on the eastern end of Yosemite Valley. This particular trail is pretty long. It would take me, going at a pretty good pace, at least an hour and a half to reach the end of it.

Before Gavin gets out of the car, he starts taking his clothes off.

"What are you doing?" I ask as he gets out to take off his jeans, revealing the black boxers beneath.

"Well, I can't phase with all my clothes on, can I?" He answers. "Turn around. Once I phase, you're going to get on my back. It will take too long if we walk, and though I'm sure he's way outnumbered, I don't want to take any chances."

"You mean I'm going to have to ride you?" I ask, not really very excited about the idea.

"Don't worry, I'll be very careful," he assures me. "You'll have fun."

"I doubt it," I mutter as I turn around. I'm really not too excited about this. Sure, I know that it will be Gavin in there, and Gavin would never do anything to hurt me. At least not on purpose. But that doesn't mean that I can't be nervous.

As I'm staring out the passenger-side window, the same huge wolf that appeared in my doorway about a half hour ago comes up next to the door. That's when the fact that this is all happening so fast hits me. An hour ago, my life was completely normal. Now it's full of werewolves.

I get out of the car. There's no use in prolonging the agony, and I did make him bring me.

You just remember that he wanted to leave you at home I silently remind myself as I hop onto his back. He really is pretty huge. He moves suddenly and I grab a huge patch of fur to keep myself on his back, and lets out a loud yelp.

It's strange how the sound tears at my heart.

"Sorry," I murmur as I lean forward so that I can put my arms around his neck instead. His fur feels really soft against my cheek, and I'm immediately soothed. This isn't going to be so bad.

And I'm not wrong. As I speed through the forest on Gavin's back, I feel a supreme rush of adrenaline that I've never felt before. I find myself really wishing that he had told me about this sooner, because I feel closer to him now than I ever have.

But it's over too soon.

We stop and I can see more of them. There are at least ten surrounding one, and I figure that one is Jacob.

"This is mean," I state, "can't this be done in a different way?" But of course I don't get an answer. I can't speak wolf. Instead, I basically get thrown off his back, and then he makes his way through the pack.

I'd have to be an idiot to try and get in on this one.

It's weird, sitting on the outside, observing a spectacle where you have absolutely no idea what is going on. The trees are blocking the sun pretty well, but there is enough light to see what's happening. Gavin is approaching Jacob, whose fur is quite like the color of his skin; a gorgeous russet color. He doesn't look scared, but like anyone who is surrounded by a bunch of people - wolves? - that they don't know, he seems wary, and ready to protect himself. And I really hope that he's capable, because if they start to attack him, I'm not really sure if I'll be able to sit here and just watch, which could result in my death.

But all of this silence is starting to bother me, now. I really have no idea what is going on. They're probably talking about me right in front of me. It could be anything.

Without even thinking, I start making my way through the pack. As soon as I reach the first wolf, Gavin's head snaps to look at me. In a second, he's right in front of me, growling. And even though it's Gavin, there's no way to not be scared. I immediately back up, but not down.

"This is ridiculous," I state. "Can't we do this in human form? I mean, you'll have just as easy a time beating up as regular guys as you will as werewolves."

The distraction is just what Jacob needed, because the next time I look to where he was, he's not there. But about four seconds later, he's standing behind me, zipping up the fly of his jeans.

"And there's also much less of a chance of us hurting her if you phase back," he adds. Then he looks straight at Gavin. "It was really stupid of you to bring her here." There is a chorus of growls, the loudest of which comes from Gavin, and Jacob grabs me around the waist and puts me behind him. "I mean, if she were my imprint, which she is, I would have left her somewhere safe."

"Maybe it's not such a great idea to provoke them?" I say to the middle of his back, which is where I stand against him. Suddenly, they all start running towards us. "I told you!" I scream. I try to run, but he grabs me.

"Don't move," he orders as he grabs onto me. Instead of feeling claws and teeth slowly tearing me to shreds, I see all of them fly by us or jump over us.

"Where are they going?" I ask.

"Probably to phase back," he answers. "They don't want you to see them naked." I nod. He makes a good point. When it sounds like they're all gone, I get myself out of Jacob's arms. However, there's one more wolf left, and it's Gavin.

Even though he's an animal, it's pretty easy to tell that he is pissed the hell off. He brushes past us.

"I think that means wait here," Jacob states. I nod again. I'm having a hard time finding words. "Thanks for that, by the way. I really was not excited to fight off eleven of them."

"I don't think they would have hurt you," I assure him.

"You think wrong," he answers. "I know that if a stranger invaded my territory, my pack would react in the same way. And we wouldn't let the invader live."

"Where exactly is your territory?" I ask.

"La Push, Washington. It's the Quileute reservation," he answers. I give him the blankest look I can manage. "Uhm … near Forks?" he tries again.

"No idea," I answer.

"That's fine," he replies, shrugging, "it doesn't really matter. I'm not going back." I'm about to ask why when our friends rejoin us, minus Gavin. He probably has the farthest to go to get his clothes. Linden, who I'm picking up is like Gavin's right hand man, is the first to speak.

"You're lucky she's here and that she means something to Gavin," he states.

"I know," Jacob answers as he slings an arm over my shoulder.

"You're not out of the woods yet," Linden reminds him.

"Literally," I pipe up. Linden just gives me a look, and then looks back at Jacob.

"So I wouldn't be acting so cocky," he finishes. "Especially not with our leader's imprint." I can feel Jacob stiffen, but otherwise he doesn't betray that the last comment got to him. "He doesn't like others touching his things."

"His things?" I demand, suddenly feeling outraged. "Since when I Gavin's thing?"

"Err … since your first day of high school?" Isaac suggests.

"No, never," I correct.

"Whatever," says Linden, "we're gonna start walking towards Gavin. We're going to his house so we can discuss what's happening here."

"I don't know about you guys," I correct, "but my father is going to be pissed if I don't get home soon." I pull out my cell phone to check the time. It's three-thirty, but they don't know what time my father gets home.

"We'll take you home, then," says Linden, "I'm sure Gavin would much rather you weren't there, anyway."

"No, I was thinking somewhere more along the lines of you all come to my house," I state. "There's room enough in my backyard. I'll light a bonfire, it will be a blast. We can make friends."

This doesn't even get a response. The Awahnee boys just turn around and start walking down the trail. I guess they're trusting that Jacob is not going to run away.

"It's beautiful around here," Jacob states about ten minutes into the hike. I'm glad he spoke, the silence was starting to get to me.

"Yeah, pretty spectacular," I agree. "I can't imagine living anywhere else."

"You're one of them, right?" He asks me.

"One of what?" I ask. "A werewolf?"

"No, I know you're not a wolf," he answers, "but you're part of their tribe, right?"

I nod. "My mother was Awahnee. She died two years ago."

"Do you mind if I ask how?" He asks. I don't really mind. It has become something that is not really that hard for me to think about.

"No one's really quite sure," I answer. "The general consensus is that she was mauled by a bear." There's a sharp intake of breath from Jacob.

"What a way to go …" he trails off.

"Yeah," I agree, "but I guess it's what she would have wanted. She liked animals." I smile, and Jacob laughs, too. "So, you got to ask a personal question of me, so now it's my turn."

"Anything you want," Jacob responds.

"Why'd you leave wherever you came from?" I ask. "From what I've seen tonight, a pack is a pretty tight knit group and they're pretty territorial, so why would you leave?" He doesn't answer right away.

In fact, I wait a few minutes for his answer, but it doesn't seem like it's coming. "You said that I could ask you anything."

"I said that you could ask me anything," he confirms, "I didn't say I was going to answer anything. The reason I left Washington is … well, it's complicated."

"We've got quite a hike," I assure him. "Maybe if they know why you're here, they'd be less inclined to kill you."

"That's not necessarily true," Isaiah, who has obviously been listening in on our conversation, interrupts, "but it might help."

"Well, they're just going to have to deal with not knowing," Jacob replies, "because I'm not telling them." He leans over so that he can whisper in my ear. "But I might tell you, later."

I really like this hold that I supposedly have over him.

He didn't say that very quietly, though. It seemed like he was trying to let the rest of the boys know that they weren't going to stop him from seeing me, no matter what they did.

Well, short of killing him.

And I'm not going to put that past them. I'm getting a completely different vibe from these boys than I usually do. Normally, they're friendly and easy going. However, right now, their mentality is completely different. They really are animals. And they're vicious.

"Where's Gavin?" I ask, once again trying to break the silence.

"He decided that he should cool off a bit," Linden answers. "You really pissed him off, you know. I suggested that he head to his house to calm down before we get there."

"We're going to my house, though," I remind him.

"Yeah, to drop you off," Linden counters. "You're not coming with us. I have strict orders to leave you at your house."

"You're so obedient," I croon. However, my attempted provocation gets no response. I don't think there's a way out of this one. If it were Gavin it would be one thing, but Linden obviously doesn't care about what I have to say.

I never liked him.

When we get to the end of the trail about an hour later, Gavin's car is not there. Bummer. I was hoping that he had decided to wait instead so that I wouldn't have to walk the rest of the way home, which is about fifteen miles.

"Are we really going to walk all the way back to my house?" I ask. "It's so far!

"Would you like to crawl instead?" Linden answers. "Don't start." That's when Jacob stops and hunches over slightly.

"Get on my back," he suggests. I am more than happy to oblige.

"She's right, though," Isaac agrees, "it's going to take forever if we walk."

"All right," Linden says, "the rest of you go ahead. I'll walk with them."

"Do you want us to bring you a car?" One of the other boys, I think his name is Ben, asks.

"Good idea," Linden answers. "We'll be on this road." The boys nod and then they bound back into the forest.

"So, why is it that you get stuck with the babysitting job?" I ask. Now I'm just trying to be obnoxious.

"Gavin doesn't trust anyone else with your safety," Linden replies.

"Why would he trust you with it?" I ask. "You don't even like me."

"It doesn't really matter if I don't like you," Linden answers, "Gavin asked me to watch you, so I'm doing it. You could shut up and make this easier on both of us."

"Oh, it's plenty easy on me," I assure him, "I mean, I'm not even walking."

"I'm sure that Gavin would get over it if I just gave you a little scratch," Linden states, "don't think I won't take a swipe."

"There's only one of you, now," Jacob reminds him, "I could take you. Quite easily, too."

"What makes you think it would be easy?" Linden asks.

"Oh, it's just a hunch," Jacob responds. "I've been here longer than you think, and I've been watching. Your pack doesn't do anything besides run around the park scaring tourists. You haven't had to deal with half of what I have." I'm hoping that Jacob will elaborate. After all, I am pretty curious about his life back at his home and why he left it.

Linden doesn't say anything.

"Not so tough without your pack, huh?" Jacob taunts.

"Just in case you forgot," Linden begins, "we'll be with them soon enough."

"Can you two just stop it?" I ask. "You're giving me a headache." And I need to think. I really don't want to hand Jacob over to the Awahnee boys. I need a plan.

Twenty minutes later, we pull up in front of my house just as my father is getting out of his car.

"I thought that I told you to come straight home after work," he states, his hands on his hips, looking like a pissed off father.

"I meant to," I answer, and suddenly a light bulb goes on in my head. "But I met someone and we lost track of time." As I open the door, I pull Jacob out with me. "This is Jacob Black. He's from Washington. I was wondering if he could have dinner with us."

"Uhhh …" My father is at a loss for words. I don't bring boys over for dinner often, mostly because the only boy I'm interested in is a) hated by my father and b) until today uninterested in me. "Sure. We're only having Chinese, though. I don't really feel like cooking."

"Do you like Chinese?" I ask.

"I like anything," Jacob responds.

"Great!" I exclaim as I continue to drag Jacob towards my front door. I wave back to Linden and the other two pack members in the car. "Thanks, boys! See you later!"

Linden looks like he's ready to kill me. But what can he do? He can't force Jacob into the car in front of my father. Nor can he go all wolfy.

"You're a genius," Jacob whispers in my ear as we enter my house.

I can't help but smile and say, "That and many other things, sweetheart."