Ch 2 – The Pack

"I wonder if the carpet matches the drapes eh?"

"Shut the fuck up Quil, that's disgusting."

"Dude, why is that disgusting?"

"First of all ginger is a vampire."

"Victoria," I corrected. Jared snorted and looked back at Quil.

"She will forever be fire crotch to me," Quil continued. All the guys started laughing. Jacob walked back out to the front of his house and smacked Quil on the back of the head.

"There are ladies present dammit," he growled though I saw him hiding a smirk. He sat down next to me and took my hand in his. I immediately felt comfortable. "Sam just called," Jake informed the pack. "He wants to tell us something, it sounds important." I stirred awkwardly.

"Another fresh trail?" Embry asked.

"I don't know, he said he wanted to tell us face to face."

"Should I go?" I mumbled to him.

"Why? You're just as much involved in this as we are Bells," he leaned down and kissed me in front of everyone.

"Ooo Jakey's come a long way. Quil, remember how we couldn't even call her his girlfriend without being backhanded?" Jacob chucked a piece of wood at Embry's face, which was lazily swatted off course.

"Things haven't changed that much," Jacob stated taking my hand again. Just then there was a nearby howl beforere Sam, Paul, Seth, and Leah walked out of the woods. The Clearwater's were a new addition to the wolf pack, along with Quil. Between this, and Harry's passing a few months back, I felt awful for their mother, Sue.

"I've got some bad news," Sam called looking grave. My stomach was immediately in knots and you could feel the light hearted atmosphere disappear instantly. "Seth encountered a newborn about forty-five minutes ago."

"You got one without us?" Quil whined breaking the tense charge in the atmosphere.

"We didn't catch it. I ordered Seth not to pursue it until he had backup." Seth let out a dissatisfied sigh.

"He did manage to hear her say something before we lost her." Everyone looked at Seth.

"She sort of hissed 'Victoria is coming.'"

"What does that mean? We know she's been trying." Jared declared.

"It means she's going to go for it this time," Leah spat.

"It also means that there are most likely two if not three vampires we have to worry about."

"Bring it," Quil snarled standing up, a devilish smirk upon his face.

"We don't have an exact time frame, but I believe we will be doing this in the next week or two." As more and more information flood into my head I began to feel really faint. I dropped Jacob's hand and put my head between my legs.

"Everything will be fine Bella, no need to be worried," I heard Sam saying somewhere above me.

"Bella it'll be three each on two vampires and two on the last if there is even that many, we definitely have the numbers," Jacob soothed, rubbing my back.

"Why are you guys so, so confident!" I stammered terrified and annoyed.

"Because we're awesome!" Jared chimed in.

"Man I wish there were like two more, it would be so much more fun!"

"This isn't a game Quil," Sam said, "If there were two more we would still be able to handle it however," he added for my benefit.

"See Bells? No worries."

"No worries," I exhaled. Who am I kidding? I will be petrified until this whole ordeal is over and every single one of them is okay.

That night I was in my bed, Jacob would be climbing up to my window any moment, but I doubted he would stay tonight with all the extra patrolling going on.

Tap tap tap

Right on Cue. He always sent me a little warning before he climbed his way easily up and through my window. Tonight I was eager to see him and rushed to the open window to watch. He hopped up to grab hold of the tree that was slightly taller than my window. He began to sway lithely bowing the tree back and forth until he sprung agilely through the window, landing with a soft thud. In the three months that we have been dating, he really perfected this method of reaching me. Only once did Charlie peek in to see if I was ok and on that occasion Jacob dove under my bed, or tried to. He didn't exactly fit. If Charlie had walked around to the other side of my bed he would have seen a large body on the floor.

"Hey," smiled the handsome boy in front of me.

"Hey," I smiled, all my anxiety melting away now that he was here. His smile had always been infectious as far as I was concerned. He was shirtless, the usual these days, with black cutoff shorts, and like always, he was barefoot. He pulled me into a vice tight embrace before pulling back slightly to place his lips on mine. It was soft and sweet in the beginning but quickly began to deepen. Jacob's strong arms held me upright as I began to stumble backwards. The back of my legs brushed the edge of my bed and I crawled back onto it. Never breaking the kiss, Jake climbed over me supporting all his weight. My nails dug into his bare, and muscled back. His hands were holding my face before one trailed down my shoulder, my rib cage, my hips, to my leg. My whole body was tingling in the sensations. He grabbed my calf and smoothly yanked it up to hitch around his waist. I wasn't complaining. To my embarrassment I let out a faint moan as he plunged his tongue into my mouth. I felt him smile around my lips. My hands traveled up his burning back and into his hair causing him to let out a growl of his own that seemed to come from deep within his chest. It made me feel better to know that I seemed to have the same affect on him that he had on me. Suddenly his head whipped towards the open window, hearing something I couldn't. He sighed and rolled off to my side.

"Sam is calling me, I've got to get back out there," he said breathing heavily.

"Is everything okay?"

"Sure, sure," he said already walking to the window. I felt the anxiety creeping back into my chest and the butterflies assaulting my stomach once again. I turned so I was facing away from him, I didn't want him to know how badly I wanted him to stay with me, so I was sure he was safe. He must not have left yet because I felt a warm hand grab mine, and spin me around.

"Hey, look at me." He tilted my face up to gaze into my eyes. "Trust me, okay?"

"Okay," I whispered. He quickly pecked me on the lips before turning and climbing swiftly out the window. I laid back on my bed and silent tears began to spill. They were not only tears of sadness but tears of guilt. Tonight was going to be a bad night, and on these nights there was still an echo of ache for an icy embrace that would never sing me to sleep again.

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