Sorry this is so long and that it took so long to get up. And thanks for the reviews so far!

Chapter 3:

"Cara… Wake up…" I was going to kill whoever had decided to deprive me of extra sleep. Because the real world was just not something I was ready to face yet.

I groaned and rolled over, dragging the sheet up and over my head. There was a soft chuckle and if I wasn't currently mad at being disturbed, I would have smiled. His warm hand rested on my back, trailing slow circles that sent shivers up my spine even through the blanket and my shirt. Ugh. Why is it impossible to stay mad at him? Easy, because when he does stuff like that it short-circuits my entire thinking process so I don't remember to be angry.

"Alright, I'm up" The sheet drew back and Jake was there. Grinning that big grin that was so much a part of him, you could see it even when he was a wolf. It's hard not to smile back- no matter how tired you are.

"There you are. I was beginning to wonder if you had gotten sick of me" As if that were a remote possibility. That would be like getting bored of the entire right side of my body. And to show him just how stupid that was, I sat up, linked my hands behind his neck and kissed him. For a second, I even think he might have been caught breathless.

The little burst of victory was just enough to wake me up. If the kiss didn't do it first.

I held up a finger to tell him one minute, then hopped up, grabbed a pair of shorts and a shirt that I wasn't even sure matched, then ran to the bathroom. My shower was beyond cold but to me it was warm. I brushed my teeth in record time, while also trying to comb my hair. Didn't work out too well but whatever. When I came bursting back into my bedroom- my clothes actually managing to work out- Jake was standing with his back to me, looking out the window. For some reason, I knew that was bad, but couldn't remember why.

"What happened to the porch?" He asked and for a second I was confused. What was he talking about? Then I remembered the scraping sound, the eyes relfected by moonlight. It took me a minute to swallow since my throat had gone completely dry.

"Uh, I don't know. Probably the storm last night" I said, praying he couldn't hear the nervous tension in my voice. It's been proven that I'm not the best liar, but occasionally, luck works my way.

Jake turned back to me, his eyes almost black at first, until he smiled again and they lightened to brown. My heart rate decreased back to under 200. he'd believed which was both good and bad. Maybe today was my lucky day.

"Ready to go?" I froze halfway to my closet, and turned back around. In two strides Jake was at the door, hand held out to me with an expectant look on his too perfect face. His shaggy dark hair seemed especially shaggy that morning and an insane desire to run my fingers through it took over for a second.

"Go where?" I asked. My mind was still hazy after last night, bits and pieces flooding back to memory and they were the parts I didn't like. I was two steps behind everything today and I could tell that Jake had noticed.

"To the airport? To pick up my sisters?... You forgot, didn't you?" It was obvious that I didn't have to answer that. I just sort of stood there, looking dumb and slow and on the verge of a breakdown.

I felt Jake wrap his arms around me, felt his shoulders shake as he tried not to laugh too much at the probably embarrassing expression on my face. So much for my lucky day, it had gone back to hating me. He pulled away, stroked hair out of my face and fought back a smile.

"Please, please, do not have a major anxiety attack right now. It is no big deal"

"No big deal? Meeting the rest of your family is no big deal. Right. Yeah, sure" I said and regretfully slid out of his hold. I pulled on my shoes, walked out into the hallway and turned back. "And I do not have anxiety attacks… often"

His silence said everything.

--

Turns out, Quil was coming too, for reasons unknown. We pulled off my street and headed towards First Beach. The Rabbit rumbled underfoot in that way that seemed so familiar now. Sitting in a quiet car might freak out me too much. The windows were rolled way down, the sun was shining on me, warming my face and shoulders. It was almost easy to forget about the "incident" at my own window last night. The chill had almost vanished.

I glanced over at Jacob, my heart swelling at the sight of him. He held my hand as he drove, his dark hair rustling in the wind. In that instant, I made up my mind. I wouldn't tell Jake about last night, instead I'd just take care of it myself. I was capable, I was strong. It would be easy and prove that I didn't need Jake around to protect me. Lying to myself was a bit harder.

The Rabbit pulled up outside of Quil's two story house. His wrap around porch was never used for anything except decoration, the christmas lights never really came down. Either because nobody was ever home, or because it was raining. Still, it added a certain something to the house in general. Made it seem lived in, I guess.

Jake honked, waited… honked again, waited then rolled his eyes and hopped out. He trudged up the stairs, hands buried in his pockets, and rang the doorbell. Barely a second later, it burst open with Quil flying out. As they headed back towards the car, the hair at the back of my neck stood on end. The feeling of being watched crept up my spine so quickly, it almost came out of nowhere. I turned away from Quil's confused look at whatever Jake had said to him, to look out at the shadowed, green forest.

I couldn't see anything at first, just trees and leaves and moss and dirt but I peered closer with my sensitive eyes and saw it. The faint outline of a wolf. The Rabbit jumped and gleaming eyes flashed just like I'd seen them do last night. I temporarily forgot to breathe.

"Hey, Cara!" Quil said as he opened the back door. Could he smell him? The other wolf, I mean? Maybe if he had been paying attention but that usually only happens around food, girls, or action movies featuring Jet Li.

Jake didn't show any sign of noticing either, just slid the car into gear and pulled off. In the rear view mirror, I could still see his massive outline, the broad shoulders barely concealed by the shadows.

"Hey" I turned to Jake, who looked at me, his eyes asking what was wrong. I smiled and shook my head, trying to ignore Quil as he leaned into the front to mess with the radio. Unfortunately, the only stations around here were static, static, and static.

The possibilities were endless.

--

"You're sure you're okay?"

It was about the billionth time Jake had asked that question in a record breaking three hours and after about the fifth time, I'd given up answering. Instead, Quil had taken that honor upon himself in the bright, noisy airport.

"While I'm sure Cara appreciates your concern, she's fine! Stop making my ears bleed" Jake's best friend ran his hands through his hair, making it stick up at odd angles. He'd actually bothered to wear a shirt today, a shock among others.

The first and most important being waiting in the airport for two people who were bound to make my life a huge living hell. Secondly, the little problem of the werewolf stalking me at night- and now apparently during the day too. Or would those two be better reversed? My own personal safety is probably more important than humiliation and awkward tension.

Jake's hand was like a physical reminder of my guilty conscience. His fingers laced with mine, the heat that radiated off of him were all weighing on my shoulders as the good angel battled the evil one.

Tell him-the good one said. No don't, he doesn't need to know, you can handle it- the evil one shot back. A war was waging in my head and all I could think about was the feeling of my hand in his… I tried to ignore the ring altogether.

A crackled announcement erupted on the PA system in the Seattle airport. Flight from Hawaii now landing.

"So… Rachel and Rebecca?" I shifted from foot to foot, my anxiety starting to kick. Meeting new people is not one of my better attributes. In fact, I borderline mental breakdown when someone even mentions meeting someone new- even if they happened to be related to my boyfriend.

"They're pretty rad" Quil said, rocking back on his heels, hands shoved in his pockets. I glanced at Jake who just rolled his eyes with a rueful smile probably meant to be reassuring but far from it.

"You'll be fine" He leaned down to whisper in my ear, before planting a soft kiss on my forehead that sent shivers down my spine. His red-brown eyes were particularly reddish, but I noticed the dark patches under them. As if he hadn't gotten any sleep.

The doors opened into Gate 12, people started rushing out into the terminal and my heart started beating like crazy. Would they like me? Or would it be hate at first sight? They'd try to make things embarrassing, that's what siblings did, right? People were crying, laughing, waving. There was all around joy to be had, but I wasn't sharing in any of it.

A sudden feeling, like eyes watching me, crept up on me for the second time in one day and I whipped around just in time to see what I would swear was the flash of green eyes and curly brown hair. A chill set in. I gripped Jake's hand tighter.

"Jake!" A very soft, airy voice- nothing like Jake's- called above the crowd and oh-so-slowly, my head spun back around to see Jacob's sisters, Rebecca and Rachel, come strolling up to us, one of them carrying a small backpack.

My hand, still locked with Jake's, went flying up as he went to wrap his arms around one of his sisters. I was pulled along and wound up tangled in a half hug, a smother fest I couldn't get myself out of. His grip was like a vice but when I looked at him, I almost couldn't breathe.

He looked at the girls- women actually, I remember him saying one was married- with so much love and admiration every word I'd thought of saying just got caught in my throat. And they looked back with exactly the same look. They had the same red-brown eyes, dark hair, and mahogany skin color. The only difference, besides the obvious genetic kind, was that Jacob was almost seven feet tall and the Twins were barely five foot five.

"Wow… you're huge" Quil said. Blunt as ever. We turned to stare at him and one of the girls, the one the comment was aimed at, threw him one withering glare.

"Yes, Quil. That would be called the miracle of life" she pointed to her stomach which I finally noticed was protruding quite a bit and I decided I liked her. Anyone who can make Quil blush like that had to be a good person.

"Dad's gonna freak out, Becca" Jake threw one arm around Rebecca's shoulders, his hand still holding mine, and turned us around to head towards baggage claim. I nudged Quil's arm with my elbow, grinning just enough to make him blush some more which earned me a very nasty death glare. I smiled at the bragging rights this would earn me with the Pack. Paul would have a feild day.

"Well, he'll have to accept it. I'm not a little girl dressed in the same clothes as her twin anymore. My Mary-Kate and Ashley days are over" She hefted her bag up her arm but Jake took it from her. She gave him a smile that would make anyone want to be her little brother for the moment.

Rebecca's twin, Rachel, was walking a few paces ahead when she caught sight of me, the girl holding that little brother's hand.

"Oh! You must be Cara, right? Jake talks about you all the time" And anyone who wanted to be Jake for the moment quickly changed their minds. The public humiliation was about to begin.

"Uh, hi" I said, silently thanking whatever force out there that had kept my voice from cracking. The Twins stared at me for a second, then burst out laughing, nudging Jake in the ribs and reaching up to tousle his hair… sort of. The height difference did make that somewhat difficult.

"She's cute, Jake. I approve. The way you talked about her I was expecting a greek goddess but I'm glad she's from planet earth" Rebecca came around Jake, who was now blushing like… well like me, and gave me a half hug, as best she could, with a smile that was startling similar to her brother's.

"Yeah, so when's the wedding?" asked Rachel and we froze in our tracks, Jake and I. I shot him a glance, like how much had he told them? But he threw one back that was equally as stunned.

"Mmhmm… you have to get married now, you two are perfect together" Rebecca said. "And she'll make the family portrait look way better, not that you're not adorable Jacob"

Oh. I sighed with a barely contained nervous laugh, Jake's shoulders eased up noticably. They didn't know, they were joking. One possible disaster side stepped. As we headed toward baggage claim, my hand wound up in Jake's again and his thumb stroked the ring that I'd switched to my right hand but belonged on my left.

"That was close" He whispered. Rachel and Rebecca had moved nagging Quil about his fashion sense but he tried to defend his honor. Really, they were just like Jake. Joking and light hearted. I liked them more and more each second and the dread I'd felt was evaporating. I squeezed Jake's hand just because I could and nobody else.

"Excuse me" A hand clamped down on my shoulder, a voice so deep it rumbled spoke and I had to fight the urge to scream, turning around like any sane person instead. "You dropped this"

A man with curly brown hair, green eyes, and just barely tanned skin stood in front of me, a wallet in his hand… my wallet. I checked my pocket and it wasn't there but I had a funny feeling I hadn't just dropped it in the middle of the airport. That's not something you don't notice. The man smiled, showing perfect straight teeth, and held his hand further toward me.

"Thanks.." I said and when I grabbed it, our fingers just brushed. Instantly, every red flag went up in my brain, all the alarms were blaring. Don't trust him, they were saying. I felt like I'd already met him but before I could say anything, he was gone, vanishing in the crowd as if he'd never been there to begin with.

"Well, he was nice, I guess" Jake said. He tugged me along while I stared at my wallet. It was mine alright, but the weird thing was… I'd left it on my desk that morning, right next to my watch and the popcorn I'd eaten last night. I suddenly realized that I had met him before, just not on human grounds.

"Yeah…" He was so nice, he'd gone out of his way to let me know he was watching me. He was so nice, he'd almost burst into my bedroom last night. He was so freaking nice, he had followed me from the moment I left the house that morning. I had a feeling he wouldn't stop being so nice until I put a stop to it myself, yet again.

We made our way through the airport but the "watched" feeling never fully left me. People bustled all around, nudging us, bumping into my shoulder. A face passed before I had even really looked at it but I knew exactly where he was in the crowds.

My lone wolf was nice enough to stalk me. But not for long.

--

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