I am not Stephenie Meyer. I do not own any of the rights to The Twilight Saga. No copyright infringement intended.

I didn't remember the massive tree moving aside for me again. I didn't remember slamming my palm onto the handle of the two foot thick steel trap door with a built in palm scanner, but I must have in order to be standing in the sloping corridor that led to the breeze-less innards of The Hub.

I found an oddly shady section and slid down against the wall to crumple on the cool floor. My hands were splayed, touching the concrete behind me. For a second I considered it strange that the wall would be warm to the touch when the floor was so cold but the observation was quickly swept away as my recent encounter replayed in my head.

I saw him pad towards me, whining. Felt the uncontrollable urge to reach out and touch.

His fur had been silky smooth and a wonderfully warm rust colour – something had felt so right about him.

His eyes, oh his eyes! I should have known there and then that something was wrong with the animal. Don't ask me how, but I knew that wolves had amber eyes. If you've seen a 'wolf' on the big screen that has blue or brown eyes it's either a wolf-dog mix or simply a Malamute. Real wolves only have amber eyes and this guy had liquid brown eyes that seemed to smile at me when I touched his fur.

My stomach convulsed as I saw him change from giant cuddly wolf to hard, smooth man. I felt the blood in my veins turn to ice again as I realized I had made a terrible, terrible mistake. And yet, something nagged at me. There had been the tiniest fraction of a second where I had touched his bare skin and felt a spark of something...other. Like electricity between us.

I considered briefly whether that was his 'gift', perhaps he had the power to hypnotize me, to mesmerise, but I vetoed it when I remembered being told that I was special because I had multiple enhanced abilities and that gifted individuals had just the one ability. Assuming this guy's gift was the ability to change from a man to an animal and vice versa there was no way he could have some sort of mesmerising power too. Or was there? Perhaps Humber had advanced in those areas too after perfecting the machine he's used to bring me here.

Something else nagged at me. The wolf-man in the woods had seemed so confused by my reaction. Like he'd actually expected me to recognise him. That couldn't be right. If Humber sent him to find me then wouldn't he have adopted more composure than some sort of desperate gravelly grunt?

I pushed myself away from the weirdly warm wall. I needed to decide whether to share my little encounter in the woods with Crane before I made my way deeper into the complex.

No, I wouldn't tell him. If I told him he might not let me go back outside again and I had a feeling that my liquid lunch would only keep me going for so long until I started having those fantastic murderous, monstrous impulses again.

I would go back outside, I'd just be ready next time. I would not be ambushed like that again. Nobody was ever going to take me against my will again. Ever.

***

"Everything was fine." I lied to Crane "I feel much better for having gone outside, thanks."

Crane had asked me about my elevated heart rate while I had been in the woods.

Stupid bracelet.

"Well that's good to hear." He said with a winning smile.

I'd found that it had been easier to lie to Crane than I had thought. Perhaps it was the full stomach, or perhaps it was that I was limiting my inhalation of his scent.

"So, now that you are feeling better would you like to join this afternoon's combat session?" He asked with glittering eyes – did I see eagerness in them?

"Sure." I shrugged.

***

The combat session involved weapons training. I took a particular liking to two blades that looked like short samurai swords. I wielded them like extensions of my own arms and everyone had stopped to watch me twist and parry with lightning speed as though I had an invisible foe.

There was also some hand to hand, though nobody had wanted to practice with me at first. Eventually one of the massive dark-skinned brothers stepped forward and said "Yo ginger, give me your best shot."

I grinned and tensed my muscles in anticipation before throwing a punch right at his chest.

It was like hitting a wall of solid titanium, my fist ached and the guy didn't even flinch.

I was so surprised that when he surged forwards I made no move to get out of his way. He picked me up and threw me into the nearest wall, the steel actually buckled beneath me and I fell to the floor in a heap.

The whole room seemed to hold it's breath as I got back on my feet. I surged towards him with all my speed, jumping at the last moment and flipping right over him. His head snapped back as he tried and failed to follow my movement. I landed in a low crouch behind him and swept my foot at his ankles with all the force I could muster. He went down hard on his ass with a grunt, the floor shuddering beneath his bulk.

All eyes were on us as he got up for round two. I didn't allow myself to be caught by him again, using my speed to my advantage. Eventually he got tired and gave up, but not without telling me that without my speed he would have 'snapped me like a twig'.

After the session, Torrin informed me that our nightly meeting would have to be postponed as she had to leave the base on an errand for Crane.

I didn't press her for details but I did feel a pang of worry as I pondered whether it had anything to do with the man I had encountered in the woods.

I skipped dinner and went straight to my room, telling everyone I was too exhausted to eat. Maya had looked disappointed but let me go without a word.

When I got back to my room I didn't really know what to do with myself. My mind began meticulously recalling every detail of the events that occurred outside. I lay in my bed, fully clothed and let my brain race.

The more I thought about it, the more I noticed that I was feeling an inexplicable pull to go back outside. Not to feed but to see this man again.

I closed my eyes and tried to let sleep come, realising for the first time I had not made any effort to remember my past today.

I don't know how long it took for sleep to finally claim me but eventually I was enveloped in blackness and floating on air.

I suddenly round myself in my bedroom – my real bedroom. I was sat on the floor sketching mindlessly when I heard my father approach and knock softly on the door. I didn't bother telling him out loud to come in. Alice had dragged Mom off shopping so my mind was unshielded – all I had to do was think the invitation.

I heard the door open and my father's footsteps approach, I turned to him with a smile.

"Would you like some company?" He asked.

I thought momentarily what a silly question that was. He would, of course, have read it in my thoughts and not knocked on my door at all if I wasn't in the mood for his company.

I watched his mouth twitch at the corners as he pulled me up from the floor and began twirling me around the room in time to the music I had playing in the background.

"I thought we might spend the afternoon together."

"What would you like to do?" I asked as he spun me under his arm.

"The choice, of course, is yours but perhaps you would like to start with a hunt and then maybe we could purchase that car you have as the desktop background on your laptop."

I rested my head against the soft fabric of his sweater and smiled as I felt his icy skin absorb the warmth from my cheek.

"Can we dance for a little while longer first?"

"As I said, the choice is yours." He replied, returning my smile with a crooked one of his own.

We moved across the room with ethereal grace as all of my favourite Ludovico Enaudi songs flowed smoothly from the inexplicably expensive speakers my father had purchased for me six months ago.

I thought about how much I enjoyed being whirled around by my father. When I was smaller I would stand on his feet and then, when I least expected it, he would pick me up and twirl me around in the air at top speed as I giggled with childlike exuberance.

My dad chuckled into my hair as he heard my thought and before I knew it he had picked me up and I was twirling through the air once again. I squealed with delight as he let go of me and I soared right out through the open balcony doors and over the iron railing to land on the balls of my feet in the squishy grass, two floors below.

He landed right beside me at the same time, throwing me onto his back before taking off into the woods that sprawled behind our house.

Two large ungulates later, we were sat atop an enormous tree, listening to the sounds of the wildlife below.

"Are you happy?" Dad asked.

"Yes" I answered without hesitation.

"He makes you happy?"

"Constantly, I love him."

"Such simple words." He observed

"Not matter how eloquently I put it, I could never truly express the immensity of my feelings."

"I understand, sometimes I just worry."

"I've noticed you have the tendency to do that sometimes."

Dad chuckled, obviously catching the sarcasm dripping from my voice.

"Is it a crime to worry about my very own miracle as she grows up?"

I rolled my eyes "Are you worried I might get sick? Or perhaps cut myself whilst chopping onions?"

"It gives me constant nightmares." He joked

I raised my eyebrows, dad rarely made fun of his inability to sleep.

"I know that my happiness is paramount to you Daddy, but you can sleep easy knowing that right now I have never been happier." I said with a wink before sliding from the branch and freefalling to the bed of pine needles below.

Once again, Dad landed silently beside me. I turned to him and asked a question that had been bugging me "How comes you're being so...cool about all this?"

He gave me his famous crooked grin "Because I know you are safe with him, that he loves you more than any other possible suitor could and that he makes you as happy as your mother makes me....also I have had your whole life so far to come to terms with it all. I believe Jacob Black is worthy of your love."

Tears sprang to my eyes as I threw my arms around my father and projected how blessed I felt to have him in my life. My Daddy wasn't perfect (nobody is) but he knew what mattered to me.

He returned my embrace with fierceness to match my own but released me when he realised I couldn't breathe.

Blackness surrounded me again.

Then, like a candle in the dark, I saw his face.

My sweet Jacob.

I wasn't sure if I was still dreaming any more. This felt different, like that wonderful calm between being asleep and being awake. He smiled at me as his body materialised. He wore black jeans that clung to him deliciously and a white shirt that made his caramel skin glow. He beckoned me towards him and I was powerless to resist as a force that was more powerful than anything I had ever experienced drew me to him.

He held his arms open for me and I knew that his embrace would make me feel whole and safe and happy. I moved towards him and pressed myself against his chest, feeling iron arms encase me in warmth.

Iron arms turned into soft, sweet caresses over the small of my back, making my breath hitch in my throat. I felt the heat of his breath in the parting of my hair.

He inhaled, deep, absorbing my scent.

My hands slipped under his shirt and ran over the taut muscles of his chest, his skin felt feverishly warm and yet it was smooth and dry to the touch. I smelled him all around me. He was piny, musky goodness that made my body react in primal ways.

I was wearing nothing but a satin, floor length robe and it fell in a puddle at my feet as he released the waist tie. I fumbled with the buttons of his shirt – finding myself strangely un-coordinated.

I found myself with no more patience, I ripped it from him with a growl as he worked the fastenings of his pants.

He groaned as I dragged my tongue up the middle of his chest, circling it in the hollow of his collar bone. I felt his hands rove over me, stroking leg and back, arms and breasts, cupping my rear and pressing my hips into him.

I felt him against me, throbbing and jerking, impatient for me.

Still his hands explored, palms caressing the outline of my body. Finally he cupped my face and pressed his lips to mine. He opened my mouth with his own and I felt his tongue dart in. My knees buckled, my nerve endings sizzled and then I shot up in bed unable to breathe.

I was awake, he wasn't with me and my heart ached for him. My sheets were shredded once again and beads of sweat peppered my top lip.

I waited with calm expectation for the inability to remember whatever I had just dreamt about but instead I found myself able to remember the scene and his face with perfect clarity.

I couldn't pinpoint why or how but in that moment I had the most sure and clear thought I had ever had since I woke up in that horrible little hospital bed.

The man I had met in the woods was not a stranger to me, he was the key to everything.

I slid out of bed, dressed in the first things I pulled out of the dresser drawers and strode over to my door.

I was going back outside and I was sure he was going to be right there waiting for me.

A/N: Once again I thank you from the bottom of my heart for continuing to read my story. I apologise for the sporadic updating but I feel like I'm back in the swing of things now so the next chapter should be up pretty soon. It's my favourite so far so I hope you will like it!

If you have enjoyed what you have just read I would be eternally grateful if you could take just a couple of minutes to review. Feedback really encourages me to continue and post regularly.

In case you haven't heard any music by Ludivico Enaudi I strongly suggest you have a listen. I do most of my writing to the album entitled 'Divenire' and the track entitled 'Primavera' is my personal favourite – it gives me goosebumps every time!