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I woke up the next day – thankfully a Friday – and dutifully attended the last day of school before summer break. School in La Push was a joke, especially for the pack. Our teachers might not be aware of our supernatural abilities, but they were aware of our connection with Sam. Besides, it wasn't like any of us needed to take school seriously or anything, because it's not possible for us to go to college. We have to protect our land and our tribe, no matter the personal cost.
And that was what I was doing, just as school let out – protecting La Push. I ambled to my post as the sun set over the tall trees. I only had to walk a couple miles down Highway 110 to get to the boundary line between La Push and Forks, and then all I had to do was step into the trees to find my post. I could observe the road and the forest from my spot in the trees, and unless someone was to look for me in the undergrowth, I was practically invisible.
I settled myself in a dry spot against a tree and started my watch, preparing myself for hours of boredom. I knew I needed to stay alert – just in case, the memory of Sam's voice echoed in my mind – but damn, just staring into the trees after a while gets pretty boring. Why did we need to set up a guard a whole week before the new moon? If that's when what's-her-face said the vampires were coming, then that's probably when they were coming. They might not even pose a problem to us at all; they could just pass us by and not hurt anyone.
Yeah, right. Since when was it ever that easy?
I sighed, standing from my comfortable spot on the ground to pace the woods. Just in case. Sam was never this cautious unless bloodsuckers were involved. I walked deeper into the woods, cursing Sam and his insane vigilance, when a scent not too far off in the distance burned my nose and down my throat.
I phased into my wolf form immediately, not even thinking about it; my first instinct, as it was whenever I was confronted with the scent of a vampire, was killkillkill. As I ran, I could hear the others in my mind, and my alarm practically sent them into frenzy, but I was too distracted to listen to their thoughts very carefully. I guess Sam was right about his whole constant vigilance thing.
I sprinted through the woods, blindly dodging trees and boulders and other obstructions, following my nose. I ran and ran until I ran right into the bloodsucker, lunging at him with my huge paws, pinning him to the ground.
He looked up, blinked, and smiled slightly. "Not bad," Edward Cullen said. "I was wondering how long it would take for you to get here."
I'd never before been so surprised that I phased before. Angry, sure – we all felt the wolf try to escape when we were upset. But surprise was a first. In the brief instant before I changed back to a human, I heard Leah laughing at me in my mind.
And then I found myself pinning Edward Cullen to the ground, my fingers digging into his icy shoulders and my face inches from his. And, of course, I was butt naked.
Can you believe my luck? I sure can't.
I scrambled off of him, faster than lightning, and pulled my shorts on as quickly as I possibly could. Thank God I could at least carry those around. He stood as well, wiping the dirt off of his ridiculously expensive-looking clothes, and looked up to me again. "You didn't recognize my scent?" he asked, curiously, and I looked away before I started having thoughts I didn't want him to overhear.
"I wasn't thinking, I guess," I said in response, beating myself up inwardly. How could I not recognize his scent? I guess from that far away it was a little easier to mistake, I guess, and in my human form, but I didn't even stop to think –
"Wait," I said, turning back to the vampire, and his golden eyes settled on mine. I kept my heart under control and thankfully my heartbeat didn't speed up – if it did, he would notice for sure. God, why can't I stop being such a girl? "What are you doing here in the first place?"
"I'm here for the same reason you are, I suppose," he replied. "We don't want the nomads to hurt anyone any less than you do."
"We can fend for ourselves, though," I said. Please just go away before I make a bigger ass of myself. "If they come onto our territory, we don't need your help."
"You might not," Edward agreed, "but we're here just in case."
I rolled my eyes at this familiar statement. Seeing this, Edward grinned and said, "I guess you're tired of hearing that from Sam, huh?"
"Yeah, I am – hey, get out of my head!" I exclaimed, horrified that he had been reading my thoughts.
"Don't worry. I'm blocking your thoughts," he said, leaning casually against an enormous tree trunk. In that pose, he looked like he could be modeling for the cover of a magazine. "Besides," he continued, flashing his teeth at me, "I don't think I particularly want to know what goes on in your head anyway, or do I?"
"Wow, fuck off," I said, not as vehemently as I should have. So there was still a possibility he didn't know that I had a raging man crush on him, a thought that comforted me. However, things were still bound to be awkward, especially with that rough start we had.
I searched around for a dry spot on the ground, which was a lot harder now that the sunlight was mostly gone, and sat down cross-legged. Edward sat as well, facing me from a few feet away, but he didn't pat the ground to see if it was dry first. Hell, even if he had a huge water spot on his ass, he'd look amazing; what did it matter if the ground was dry or not?
"I still don't understand why you're here," I told him conversationally. I didn't even have to attempt to keep my tone neutral – I guess my crush leaked the acidity out of my voice. God, I hoped he wasn't listening to my thoughts. "I'm pretty sure we don't need to set up a guard anyway, and since your future-telling friend can predict what's going to happen I think we're pretty much set, huh?"
"When you werewolves decide to get involved, Alice's vision stops working," he explained. I could tell he was trying to be nice, as well. I heard just the barest hint of sharpness when he said werewolves. Well, at least he was trying. "We kept off telling you about the nomads as long as we could, so Alice could keep tabs on all possible futures, but it's just too dangerous. They practically had a killing spree in Seattle last week, and they'll be just as thirsty whenever they get here."
"So let me get this straight. Alice can't see anything now that we're involved in this? Nothing at all? So we're basically going at this completely blind?"
"Not completely," Edward corrected. "Once they get in close enough range, I'll be able to hear their thoughts, and of course we'll be able to smell them. Well, maybe not you, if you can't recognize the good guys, here."
I shot him my best I-hate-you glare – which I had previously perfected on Leah – and didn't respond. He didn't push the conversation, either, and as the light of day disappeared we were simultaneously plunged into darkness and silence.
Awkward.
As I brooded in silence, I wondered how I would ever be able to get myself out of this mess. It was only a silly little crush, right? Surely it would fade into nothing, with time, especially since nothing would ever come of it. The problem was that I didn't have the time for something like that to happen. I didn't know how much longer I could deal with the dreams and the taunting and the stupid, stupid thoughts banging around in my head all the time.
And he wasn't making it any better, sitting there on the ground, only a few feet away. He was just sitting there, as still as a statue, staring at the ground. It was almost eerie, how unmoving he was, because his chest never rose with the intake of air. I watched his stillness for an immeasurable amount of time, until it was too dark to see clearly.
I wondered what he could possibly be thinking about – sitting in the forest, at night, with one of his least favorite kinds of people. As my thoughts wandered, I reminded myself of the bloodsucker's power – was Edward reading my mind?
His head twitched slightly and he blinked. For fuck's sake, he was, wasn't he? Was saying his name in my mind like calling his name out to get his attention or something?
I huffed out a silent breath, sighing at my own stupidity. I had a job to do, didn't I? I was supposed to be patrolling, and all I was doing was sitting on the ground and staring at a vampire, not even using my dulled human senses to detect what was in the forest around me; instead I was just brooding. If I had a job to do, I was at least going to do it right, instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself. I do enough of that at home, anyway.
I stood abruptly and Edward's head turned in my direction in a split second, his eyebrows raised questioningly. "I'm going to phase," I grunted, turning on my heels and running into the forest. Once I was out of his direct line of sight, I shucked my pants off and transformed.
I no longer had to think about gaining my bearings in my wolf form – everything felt natural, from the enhanced vision to the sharper scent of the forest to the use of all four limbs to walk. Even the whole mind reading thing didn't catch me off guard so much anymore. Before, I had to make room in my head for everyone else to fit, in a sense, but now there was a permanent space in my mind, just for the pack, and I could only access it as a wolf.
But honestly, I could have done without Leah in that part of my head.
Oh, Jacob, she taunted, just as soon as I'd phased. So good of you to join us. How are things going with your loverboy?
I ignored her as well as I could, letting my thoughts come to the surface of my mind. Has there been anything?
Aside from your little scare, no, Leah replied, sounding lazy even in her thoughts. But that didn't turn out to be a bad thing, did it?
Leah, Jacob heard Quil interrupt, sounding exasperated. If you don't shut up, we're all going to think you have a thing for Jacob. Cut the crap.
We all knew she didn't, though; she still had a thing for Sam, and we all thought of that at the same moment. I heard a low growling in my head as all of her bitterness and anger welled up, but I phased back before I could hear her practically explode. I wasn't really in the mood for an episode of our little werewolf soap opera at that point in time.
I pulled on my shorts and walked through the trees to where Edward was still sitting. I played around with my hair, pushing it out of my face so I wouldn't have to look at him immediately, but when I did turn toward him, I knew something finally went horribly wrong.
"What?" I demanded. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
I took one more look at his shocked, bewildered, beautiful face and I knew the answer to my own question. Honestly, I was surprised I lasted so long in his presence without him realizing immediately, if this was the reaction I got. Obviously he kept his word, to keep out of my head, at least for part of the night. But somehow he must have slipped, because I could tell by his face that he knew.
So I turned and ran. Perhaps not the bravest thing I've ever done, but it was the only thing I could stomach doing. I certainly couldn't stay there, not with him looking at me like that. Fuck, I was pathetic – I could rip out a vampire's throat with my teeth, tear the rest of its body limb from limb until it didn't even resemble anything slightly human, but I couldn't stare one in the face if I thought it was hot?
I didn't go home, because I couldn't shirk the duty Sam had given me. No, instead I just ran and ran until my bloodied feet couldn't carry me any farther. I camped out there, in that one spot the whole night, watching intently for a danger I knew would not be there (just in case), if only to keep my mind off of him.
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TBC.
Notes: Thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews, favorites, and story alerts! Nothing makes me happier than seeing that people like what I write. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. More soon!
