I didn't know how long we held each other before I loosened my numb arms, and even then it took another several seconds for Jacob to put me down, grabbing my wet face in his burning hands as soon as I was on my feet. He stared down at me, worry in his tired eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Now," I breathed, and a grin spread across his face; he looked just as he had a day earlier, nothing too obviously altered besides the fact that he never stopped growing. He hugged me quickly again and then let me go, holding my shoulders and glancing behind me. I turned, forgetting that Sam had been in the room, too.

Sam wasn't the only one who'd joined us. Three ginormous boys stood in the middle of the living room, closer than they really should have been considering how gigantic they all were; Jacob was the tallest, somehow a couple inches taller than he had been yesterday, but the others were close behind, especially Sam. Paul was there too, looking antsy and mildly grossed out, and a stranger who I assumed was Jared was to his left. All waiting for Jacob to hurt me, I guessed.

"I'm Bella," I said, for lack of nothing else to say, and there was a chorus of laughter, even some coming from Jacob. I looked back at him, seeing his eyes on me, and moved closer to him without thinking. His grin widened and he slung his arm over my shoulders.

"Hi, Bella," Jared said, his expression much more carefree than the other two beside him. "I'm Jared. So you're in on it with us now, huh?"

I blushed and nodded, and they all laughed again, Jake's arm keeping me warm and well despite the embarrassment. "Sam told me a little bit of the legends."

"Yeah, we usually have campfire parties where they actually tell the legends. You'll get to go to the next one," Jared said, smiling at me in encouragement, and I tried to be less uncomfortable. With my Jacob so close to me, it worked.

"Well, everyone must be starving," Sam said, and my traitor stomach growled in agreement. I couldn't even imagine eating right now, not after everything, but the other boys started whooping and heading toward the door. I wanted to be alone with Jake for five seconds, so I could hug him without eyes on us, but Paul lingered at the door as if he wanted us to go first. I looked at Jake pleadingly, but he shook his head minutely, taking my hand and pulling me along.

Paul and Jared sat at the tiny wooden table by the kitchen, the two of them large enough that they could most likely have easily broken it in half. Sam was at the door we had come in, his hand on the knob. "I'm going to run and get Emily. Five minutes, okay? Be careful." He gave Jacob a stern, fatherly look, and Jake nodded.

I didn't like the look on Jacob's face in the middle of all of this; he looked comfortable, sure, but like he had something he very much wanted to say but couldn't. I wanted the boys to leave, or for me and Jacob to leave, for us to have a couple seconds to ourselves so I could tell him nothing had changed. Well, emotionally, at least. Certainly some physical things had changed a bit.

"Jake, do you want to see the Rabbit? I made Sam let us take it here so you could make sure I kept it in one piece." I smiled at him, trying to show my true motives of escaping our chaperones in my eyes, and he grinned and nodded, lacing our fingers together and starting for the door.

"Hold it, kids," Jared said, shaking his head. "Sam told us not to let you guys be alone."

"Why?" I demanded, almost angry; after everything Jake and I had been through, we weren't allowed a few seconds of peace?

"Jake just turned for the first time last night. You say one wrong word to him, and he'll Hulk out."

Jake's cheeks tinged pink, and I reached up to touch one with my free hand, his blush making his skin impossibly hotter.

"Are all of you guys like a million degrees?" I asked, trying to take the attention off of Jake now; I knew he wouldn't like all eyes on him. "Jake and Sam are."

"Yup." Paul was gazing at a vase of flowers, looking painfully bored. I wondered if he had a problem with their "pack" gaining a new member. I regretted thinking the words, shuddering.

"It's a good thing, though, because you're always freezing," Jacob said, having mistaken my shivers for low body temperature and tugging me into his arms. Despite his misinterpretation, I still felt far safer there, hugging him back tightly.

My dream still prodded at the back of my mind, however. How likely was it that Jake was really going to hurt me?

Likely enough that Sam didn't want us to be alone together.

Sam made good on his promise of five minutes, coming through the door with a woman behind him; they had their hands clasped together in the same way Jacob and I had done, and she was laughing at something Sam said as they crossed the tiny threshold.

My first thought upon seeing her was that she was incredibly beautiful. Her skin was lighter than the russet I had grown used to, but her hair was the same inky black as the others', hanging long over her shoulders. I didn't see the scars until she turned, the right side of her face becoming visible as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

Three long lines marred her copper skin, turning down the corners of her eye and mouth; I knew better than to stare, looking the rest of her over and seeing that the scars didn't stop at her face. They traveled down her neck, disappearing under her shirt and reappearing along her arm and onto her hand. I wondered where they had come from, but didn't think twice. A wolf had done that to her.

Fear knotted into a pit at the bottom of my stomach.

"Bella, this is Sam's fiancée, Emily," Jacob said. "She was nice enough to let me stay here last night."

"Hi, Bella. It's lovely to meet you. Jacob wouldn't stop talking about you when I saw him last night." She smiled at me, holding out her scarred hand, and I carefully controlled my expression while I shook it. I didn't want her to mistake my sudden discomfort for disgust of her appearance. No, I was simply afraid of ending up like her.

"It's nice to meet you, too. Thank you for taking care of Jacob."

"Don't you mean 'your Jacob'?" Jared said, laughing, and my cheeks heated immediately; Jacob leapt away from me and kicked the legs of Jared's chair, sending it flying out from under him. Jared was very fast, as fast as Jacob had been when kicking the chair, and caught himself before hitting the ground, still laughing. My arms reached out to grab Jacob and stop the fight before it could start, swiping at the open air pathetically before I crossed them in front of myself.

"Shut up," Jacob growled, and I saw the muscles in his back and shoulders flexing as he fought for control. He didn't shake how he had the first time I'd watched him change.

"That's enough." Sam's voice rang out loud and strong, and Jared yanked another chair out from under the table, plopping into it sullenly and crossing his muscular arms. Jacob returned to my side, putting one of his arms around my waist. I noticed that he seemed to constantly want to be touching me, and I didn't mind one bit.

"Who's hungry?" Emily asked, cheerful despite the small fight, and turned into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and pulled out multiple cartons of eggs, reaching into a cabinet for a huge mixing bowl. Did these wolf boys eat that much? I looked around at all of them, at their huge bodies bursting with energy, and decided I believed it.

"Can Bella and I go out to the Rabbit?" Jacob asked Sam, and I tried not to wrinkle my nose at the fact that he had to ask permission; Sam nodded, his expression still fatherly.

"Stay close," he said, and Jake nodded, holding out his hand for mine. I took it, letting him pull me out to the Rabbit and open the door for me to climb in first, as usual.

I slid into the seat and waited until he sat next to me before I threw my arms around him again. I knew I was going to cry before it actually started, and he pulled me all the way onto his lap, running his hands up and down my back. I could feel the heat from him even through the sweatshirt, uncaring as I held him tighter.

"I – was – so – scared," I sobbed into his shoulder, remembering driving around the dim streets of Port Angeles the night before searching for a wolf. "I didn't know where you were, I didn't know if you were okay—"

"I know, Bella," he breathed, and I could hear his pain in his voice, pulling back to look at him. I could tell he felt incredibly guilty, and underneath that, he was scared, too. This had been just as much of a shock to him as it had been to me.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to make this about me," I whispered, touching the perfect planes of his face. He closed his eyes, and I wondered if my cold hands felt good on his hot skin. I spent too much time with my fingers on his smooth lips, mesmerized. "I know you can't be any more comfortable than me."

"Oh I dunno, I'd say I'm pretty comfortable right now," he said, laughing, and I grinned at him, no longer crying. I wiped my eyes on the sleeve of his sweatshirt. "By the way," he said, smiling back at me. "This is mine." He had his hands on my waist, pulling at the sweatshirt there. "And so is this." He brought one hand up and took my wrist, running his thumb over the strip of blue.

"Safety," I said simply, and when he looked confused I clarified. "Your smell is on them. It makes me feel safer."

His smile widened. "Even after last night, my smell makes you feel safe?"

"Everything about you makes me feel safe," I said, putting my arms back around his neck but staying so I could see his face. It was hard to think about my dream with this Jacob, this safe and warm and normal Jacob. "I'm so glad you're okay, Jake."

"I'm so glad you're okay, Bella," he said, pulling me closer by my hips so our stomachs were nearly touching. "I really am so sorry."

"You couldn't have known." I was curious behind all my confusion and fear, and fought with myself for several seconds before working up the bravery to ask. "What…I guess, what happened? Start from the beginning, from the smell."

He didn't look surprised; I was sure he'd known I would ask eventually. "One second, I was sitting talking to you, and the next, my nose just burned. I remembered the legends, I've heard the stories a million times. None of the Quileute kids actually believe them, though, ya know? We've heard them our whole lives and we think 'no way that happened, but that's a cool story to brag about.'

"So I had heard that the smell of vampires was supposed to burn our noses if we had the ancestry, but I didn't like – connect it. I just thought man, that stinks." It was the first time anyone had used the word vampire, and I flinched involuntarily. He pretended not to notice, but I had a feeling he was noticing everything about me. "And the more I smelled it, the more instinct started to take over. Something way in my stomach was pushing me to get out and go find the smell. My body knew what it was before my mind did, and it knew what Quileutes do to the cold ones, I guess." He had started to look scared, now, and I took one of his hands with both of mine and tangled our fingers together.

"I don't remember much, exactly. I remember that she was freezing me, and then as soon as she looked at you I could move. And all I knew was just – I was torn. I knew that I had to protect you, and I knew that I had to kill her." I flinched again, this time very obviously, and he brought his free hand up to my face, pushing back a stray lock of hair with his burning fingers. "I'm sorry, I don't have to talk about it."

"Talk about it if you want to talk about it," I urged, still curious despite my pain for Jacob. Poor, scared, perfect Jacob.

"I don't remember much of being a wolf. I just remember what it felt like to look at you, right before I turned and then when I was a wolf." He blushed then, dropping his eyes from mine, and I leaned my head against his chest, loosening my hold on his hand so I could wrap my arms around him. He did the same to me. When he spoke, his voice rumbled against my ear. "And I remember that it hurt, so, so badly."

"I'm so sorry," I said, wondering if he could even hear my anguished whisper, but he seemed to, tightening his arms.

"You didn't do anything wrong," he said, his voice stronger now. I wondered if he felt better after talking to me about it. "You did everything right. You even took care of my car."

"It needs gas," I remembered, and he laughed.

"I'm just glad it happened the way it did, almost. If it hadn't, I don't know that Sam would have let me keep seeing you."

"What?" I asked, pulling back to look at him. "I don't like that, I don't like that he controls you."

"He's just taking care of me," he said, seeming confused about my anger. "It can't really make much sense to you, I guess, since you weren't in my head when everything happened."

"What do you mean?"

"When we're wolves, we kind of…share minds. I can hear all of their thoughts, they can hear all of mine. We communicate that way. Luckily, when I changed, Sam was a wolf. He talked me through it, told me what was happening, why it hurt so bad and why I felt…" He blushed, and I wondered why briefly before he continued. "He told me to chase that woman and that you would be safer if I did. He told me to run away and not look back."

That was why he hadn't given me a second glance, I realized. Sam had been coaching him to take care of the woman. I didn't register hurt for that occurrence until that moment, and it was quickly eased.

"I'm grateful to Sam for that, and I understand that he knows more about this than me, and that I should listen to him. The mind thing is also how Jared knew about…" He trailed off, looking embarrassed.

"The 'my Jacob' thing?"

"Yeah." He still didn't meet my eyes, and I pulled his chin up so he would.

"What, you don't think you're my Jacob?" I asked, equally embarrassed but trying not to be. Both of our cheeks were red, and the thought made me smile. "I mean, I think I have some claim now that I watched you turn into a wolf."

He laughed. "Tell you what. I'll be your Jacob if you'll be my Bella."

I grinned, nodding. "Why, I would be honored."

"Enough flirting!" a voice shouted from behind me, and I glanced back to see Jared in the doorway, waving at us. "Food's ready!"

"I'm sure you're starving, when did you eat?" I asked, sliding off of Jacob's lap clumsily onto the seat; I wasn't even going to try getting out of the car from his lap. He was experienced with my lack of coordination, getting out of the car effortlessly and holding his hand out for me. "And how the heck did you acquire agility and several inches of height in a few days?"

"Both wolf things," he said, shrugging. "I don't mind. And I ate last night. When did you eat?"

"Not since the restaurant."

"Bella!" he said, shaking his head in disapproval. "Come on." He still had my hand from helping me out of the car, and shut the door with his free one, walking with me up to the cottage.

The smell of scrambled eggs was in the air, and I wrinkled my nose barely before smoothing out my expression, knowing I had to eat something. Emily had several bags of flour and other ingredients splayed out on the counter, and she had just cleaned off a huge griddle. Now, pancakes I could do.

"Does she need any help?" I asked Jake, glancing away from the cooking supplies in the kitchen to look up at him.

"Nah, she's pretty used to this. She's like the mother wolf."

I laughed. He pulled me to the table where someone had picked up the chair that Jake had kicked, and he sat in it. I moved to sit in one next to him and he yanked my arm, making me fall into his lap.

"Careful, Jake's gunna break the chair," Jared said, laughing with Sam, and I blushed, situating myself on his lap but not moving off of it. Jacob seemed very happy about that, wrapping both of his arms around my waist.

Emily made a huge stack of pancakes in record time, and I had one, the other boys piling their plates high with both pancakes and eggs. I ate my food in the kitchen with Emily while she quickly assembled more pancake batter, and I was wondering if she was crazy when I saw just how quickly the boys devoured them. Apparently, boys that could turn into wolves ate a lot.

"What do they call themselves?" I asked Emily quietly, and she glanced at me for a second with a warm smile, continuing to stir the batter without looking at it.

"They go by werewolves," she said calmly, and I resisted the urge to flinch. "Just easier to say."

"Yeah," I agreed, speechless and kind of sick to my stomach. Every time I looked at the table, Jacob was watching me, though, and every time I caught him and saw the blush rise in his cheeks, I felt better.

Emily and I were tag-teaming breakfast dishes, the boys still laughing loudly and joking with each other at the table, when the entire atmosphere of the house shifted. Jacob's booming laugh echoed around us, and I smiled despite myself, glancing at him just in time to see the smile immediately disappear from his face as his whole body tensed. The others mimicked him almost instantly, and the grip I had on the drying towel dissolved; it fell to the counter noiselessly.

I couldn't take my eyes off of Jacob, not even to see what Emily was doing. I wondered if she was surprised by this, or if this was a normal action from the "pack." If I hadn't been terrified, the word would have made me tremble.

"I'll stay with the girls." Jacob's voice broke the silence, but instead of chaos ensuing, they simply began speaking in quick, organized whispers.

"You can't, you're stronger because of your blood and you need practice." Sam's voice was calmer than Jacob's.

"This isn't a time for me to practice, Sam. I'm staying with Bella."

"They're going to meet us out front, you'll be close enough to her," Paul jeered, and I waited for Jacob to hit him or something, but they just kept murmuring, each of them standing.

"They could send someone else to come in the house. We'll be out there, we won't notice."

"Just because you imprinted on Bella doesn't mean you can't leave her side, look at Emily and Sam." Paul sounded annoyed, and I mentally questioned his phrasing: imprinted?

"There are two of them, if there were more we would hear," Jared said, sounding as calm as Sam. Jacob was the most nervous, it seemed.

"They could have a third on its way." Jacob was very firm about staying with us in the house.

"Jacob, you're fighting. No more questioning." Sam's words were a command. The word "fighting" sent chills down my spine, and I could finally look at Emily, seeing she looked as frightened as I felt.

What did this mean? What were the boys talking about?

It took me several seconds to understand that they were most likely talking about vampires.

"Go outside, Jacob and Paul. Jared and I will circle the back and ambush them." Sam was speaking so, so quietly now, and I almost leaned in to hear him better. Before I could, though, they followed orders, Paul heading toward the front door and Jared moving toward the back of the house. Sam and Jacob stayed where they were, Jacob's eyes desperate, and Sam's jaw clenched. He turned and stalked to Emily behind me, and I ran to Jake before I could stop, throwing myself into his arms.

"Bella, everything's going to be okay, trust me," he said in my ear, holding my face and looking down at me. I dug my nails into the small of his back, trying to pull him closer, to protect him and keep him with me, but I knew it was no use. Not with Sam making orders.

"Don't – don't get hurt," I said, trying to sound stern like Sam, and he smiled just barely, leaning down and kissing my forehead gently. I closed my eyes, but opened them quickly, not wanting to miss a second of the last time I could be spending with him. "Jacob, be careful."

"As careful as you can be fighting vampires, right?" he asked, starting to smile again, but the mood wouldn't let a full grin touch his face. He let go of me but then hugged me tightly again, and I didn't even care that it hurt.

"See ya, Bells," Jacob said, and then he turned and left me.