It was a different story today than it had been the day before. Instead of there being absolutely no one at Jacob's house, there were several people: Billy, sitting on the porch next to Jared, whose leg was wrapped up a makeshift cast; Emily and Sam, who were standing in the front yard discussing something quietly; and my Jacob, who I saw was wrestling a boy I hadn't seen in a long time…Embry.

Almost everyone looked up at my truck's thunderous approach, and I grinned nervously through the windshield, parking off to the side of the yard where I usually did. Jacob knocked Embry to the ground easily and raced to open my door for me, and I laughed, jumping out of the truck and into his arms.

"Bella, you stink!" Jacob said, laughing as he put me down. I heard a chorus of laughter around us, and realized that everyone would have heard him. "Are those vamps in every one of your classes?"

"Five of them," I replied, fighting a blush but also having a hard time not grinning. It was hard to be embarrassed around Jacob.

He grimaced like he was unhappy about my proximity to them, and glanced at Sam, whose head shook minutely. I imagined Jacob was probably not letting up on wanting to transfer to my school.

"You wouldn't even be in our classes, Jake," I said, slamming my truck door. "You're a little kid."

There were more barks of laughter again, and he grinned down at me, grabbing my wrists in a millisecond and pushing me up against the truck effortlessly. Somehow, he did it gently, without it hurting. How had he gotten such precise control over his strength so soon? Maybe he really was a natural, like Sam had said.

"Little, huh?" he asked, his warm hands tight on my wrists, pinning them up above my head on the truck. I struggled to break his grip, but knew it was futile. "You wanna maybe rethink that?"

"Nope," I laughed, grinning up at him. He was so close, smelled so good, was mine…

"That's about enough," Sam said, and Jacob's smile broke, beginning to fade. "Bella could get hurt."

"Jacob could never hurt me," I said, with much more attitude than I'd intended to show in my words, and several confused and surprised gazes were on me. What, was I supposed to sit around and let Sam make my Jacob feel bad right in front of everyone?

Sam's eyes narrowed slightly, but I didn't look at him any longer, bringing my eyes back up to Jacob's. He was pinching his lips shut, like he was fighting desperately against a smile. Nevertheless, he dropped his hands from my wrists, and I gritted my teeth. I hate Sam Uley.

The group of people began to migrate into the house, Sam leading the pack, as usual. Jared was using old crutches to hobble behind Billy's chair, and Embry was last in line next to me and Jacob. I slid my arm around Jacob's waist and looked at the other boy, making sure he was okay. Sure enough, he was as huge and whole as the others, his russet skin almost matching Jacob's precisely.

"How're you doing, Embry?" I asked him, watching carefully for his reaction. His grin was nearly instantaneous, and I felt Jacob tense in response.

"I'm doing pretty good, thanks, Bella," he said, his white teeth on full display. "Little rough at first, but I'm great now."

"That's really good to hear," I replied, looking up quickly at my Jacob to see discomfort on his face. Embry climbed the steps first, and I turned and stopped Jake before he'd put his foot on the first one. My hands on his chest, I hopped up to the second step so we were close to eye-level and frowned at him.

"What about you?" I said quietly, and he covered my hands with his, his jaw clenched.

"I'll be okay," he breathed, and I heard the crack in his voice immediately. Like I had getting out of my truck, I jumped into his arms, throwing mine around his neck and circling his waist with my legs.

He chuckled, but it was halfhearted. "Bella, you're insane."

"I don't want you to say that you'll be okay, Jacob," I murmured, kissing the side of his neck. "I want you to be okay now."

"Me, too," he breathed, and I pulled back to look at him, seeing the same pain and fear and worry that I'd been looking at for days.

"What are they doing in there?" I asked, dropping my legs so I was on the stairs but keeping my arms around his neck.

"I think just kind of hanging out, there isn't any news."

"Can we leave?"

"Leave?" he asked, as if it was a foreign idea.

"Yeah, go hang out at my house before Charlie gets home. Or go, I dunno, to a park."

He grinned, shaking his head. "Lemme ask."

I grimaced without thinking, and he noticed, touching my frown gingerly with his index finger. He didn't ask right away, kissing me on the forehead and breezing past toward the front door. He was inside for under a minute before he reappeared, sweeping me up into his arms and starting toward my truck but then stopping.

"Can we take the Rabbit? I feel like it's been forever since I drove," he said, and I laughed, nodding.

He moved easily to the garage and opened his door, sliding me onto the seat. He disappeared for another minute before sitting next to me, keys now in hand.

"Where to, love?"

I grinned as wide as possible at his pet name, sitting close against him and pondering. "Well, get on the road toward Forks, I guess?" I suggested, leaning my head on his warm shoulder. He didn't have a shirt still, and I took the sweatshirt off as the car started moving, handing it to him.

"You'll need this if we go out in public."

"I won't be cold."

"Yeah, but picture Charlie, okay? You picturing him?" He grinned and nodded. "Okay, now picture his face if you walked up to our house with no shirt on."

He laughed, nearly shaking the whole tiny car. "You're probably right. I'll put it on when we stop."

"Okay, but I'll need it back," I warned, and his answering grin was astoundingly beautiful.

We had driven for five minutes before Jake spoke again. "So you don't like Sam, huh?"

Yikes. "I'm not the hugest fan."

"I told you that he's just helping me, he's taking care of us."

"He's waiting for you to do to me what he did to Emily," I snapped, and then regretted my words immediately. "I – I didn't mean to sound like that, it's just ridiculous to me."

He didn't speak for a long time, but on the half of his face I could see, he was in pain. It seemed there just wasn't enough pain in the world for Jacob to endure. "I'm sorry, Jacob."

"Don't have to be sorry for saying how you feel, Bells."

"I'm sorry that you have to deal with all of this." Why did a boy so pure, so shiny and funny, my sun, have to endure these struggles? He'd just turned sixteen. He should be worried about homework and girls, not vampires and pack drama.

"It's my blood," he whispered after what felt like ages. "I was born into it."

"You don't deserve it," I said in response, twisting my arms around his waist as best as I could with the way we were sitting.

"Can't change it."

"We can just leave," I suggested, hardly able to believe the words I was about to say. "We don't have to go back, we can just drive and drive and go somewhere safe where we don't have to deal with wolves or vampires or anything."

"They're my family, Bella," he said, but I could hear in his words he wanted what I did. "I can't abandon them. I can't leave my dad, and you can't leave yours either."

"We could find a way to let them know we were safe. We can be okay, Jake. I can make you feel better."

He glanced at me, brown eyes darkening with his anguish. "It doesn't work like that. It's not your job to make me feel better."

"But I can try, Jacob," I pleaded, and he slammed on the brakes, screwing his eyes shut. I looked around us immediately, seeing he'd pulled onto the muddy shoulder of the road.

"Are you okay?" I asked when he stayed silent, and he opened his eyes, watery and red.

"No," he choked out, and I fought back tears to match his, throwing myself onto his lap like I had a hundred times before and hugging him as tightly as I could. He hugged me back without any controlled strength, the tightness of his arms threatening to break me, but I couldn't feel any of my own pain – only Jacob's.

We were on the side of the road for a very long time. I could feel in the dampness at my shoulder and the shaking of the boy in my arms that I wasn't the only one crying, but I didn't reference it, holding him tightly to help both of us. His arms began to loosen eventually, and my sides ached, but I didn't pay any attention to it. If this was the only way I could help my Jacob, I would have endured any amount of pain.

"I don't want to be scared like this, Bella," he murmured, breaking the silence eventually, and I nodded into his shoulder.

"I know, Jake," I replied, running my fingers up and down against his skin. "I don't want you to be scared."

"I'm not even scared of the vampires, or getting hurt, or you not liking Sam, or anything like that," he whispered. "I'm scared of you getting hurt. I'm scared of having the means to keep you safe but not being able to. I'm just – Bella, I cannot lose you. I need you to be safe more than I've ever needed anything in my whole life."

I pulled back to look at him, and his arms loosened reluctantly, his lashes still damp. I reached one hand out and touched them, and he closed his eyes, still trembling. He started to smile, laughing weakly. "If I could go back in time just like, a week, and someone told me that I would be saying all this or crying on a girl's shoulder, I would have probably punched them in the face."

I laughed too, taking my other arm from around his neck and running both of my hands through his messy hair, halfway tied up loosely in the back. I pulled the hair tie free gently and slipped it around my wrist, pulling his hair forward over his shoulder and starting to detangle it gently. "Jacob," I said, and glanced away from his hair to meet his eyes; they were locked on me, too agonized for me to look at long.

"Bella," he breathed in response.

"Do you still have to get a haircut?"

He half-smiled. "I could use one."

"We can go do that, if you want. I'm gunna miss this though." I held up the end of a lock, tickling his chin with it. His smile widened a touch, and I dropped his hair, taking his face in my hands and running my thumb along his bottom lip. How could someone so perfect look so sad?

"I'm gunna be safe, Jacob," I told him sternly, his skin hot underneath my fingers. "Of all the things to worry about, don't let it be me. I can't be the reason you're like this."

"You're not," he said, his voice breathy and low; I wondered if I was affecting him, in such close proximity with my fingers on his lips. I hoped I was. "You're not the reason. Anything that could hurt you is."

"Sam told me yesterday that I couldn't keep worrying about you like I do," I said, freeing one side of his face so I could play with his hair again. "He said I just have to let things be, basically. You have to let things be, Jake. There's no reason I could be hurt."

"You could hydroplane in that monster truck and crash into a tree. You could fall and crack your head open on the side of a desk. One of those bloodsuckers could come to school too thirsty one day." His jaw clenched under my hand, and I dug my fingers into it, wrinkling my brow at him.

"You let me worry about them."

He laughed. "Yeah, okay. Little fragile human Bella Swan, taking down three vampires singlehandedly."

"Who you calling little?" I demanded, fighting a grin. I poked my index finger on my free hand into his chest, pretending to be angry. "I will have you know I carried four textbooks upstairs the other night! I am especially strong!"

He laughed again, and his smile was contagious, my sun lifting my heart to the sky. "Wow, touché."

"Yeah, that's what I thought!" I said, his laugh making me laugh. There was no trying to keep a serious face anymore. "You better watch it, next time you're rude I might not be so gentle."

"Oh yeah?" he asked, his smile turning into a smirk. "I think I might want to see you not be gentle."

I rolled my eyes at him and threw my arms around his neck again, wishing there was more I could do to make his worries less permanent. How was I to reassure him about something he had right? I was a fragile human, and could get hurt as easily as a car accident or slipping and falling. He really could lose me in the blink of an eye.

But he couldn't let that consume him.

"We just have to take it a day at a time, Jacob," I told him, speaking into his shoulder. "You can't spend your whole life worried about me getting hurt. Just like I can't spend my whole life worried about you, even though you chase and fight vampires and your friend literally just had his back broken by one."

He nodded, his lips moving from my shoulder up to my neck and then my jaw. "You're right."

I lost my train of thought in the warmth of his lips, trying to focus on what I had been saying. "We – we have to be strong for each other."

He nodded again, his lips still dragging burning heat across my skin, and I closed my eyes, opening them again sharply and pulling back.

"Are you trying to drive me crazy?" I asked, reaching over and rolling the window down. The cold air hit my heated skin sharply. "You're killing me here."

He grinned, tightening his arms around me. "I'm listening to you."

"Yeah, but you won't have anything to listen to if you keep being distracting," I said, putting my hands on his face again. "Listen."

"Listening."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Okay." I took a deep breath. "It does no good for us to worry about each other. We just have to trust that we're going to be okay and that things will work out. We'll protect each other when we can, but we have to understand that there comes a point when that's all we can do."

His face became solemn, and he nodded slowly. "It's hard, setting you free. You're safe right here." His arms tightened around me.

"I know. Believe me, I go crazy wondering where you are at any given point. Like yesterday when you had to leave."

He looked apologetic, biting his lip. I averted my eyes immediately, already at my limit with his perfection, and when I looked back at him he was grinning, completely aware of his effect on me. "Bella," he said after a couple seconds, moving my hands from his face. "We're going to trust each other and accept things as they come."

"Yes."

"We're going to be strong for each other."

"Mmhm."

"And in the meantime, when we're together…" He traced my jawline up to my lips with his fingers, and my eyes fluttered closed. "We'll make the most of that time, right?"

I opened my mouth to agree, but no sound came out; he seemed to understand and slid his hands up the sides of my face, tipping it to the side so he could kiss my neck again. "Bella," he breathed, his voice singeing my skin.

"Jake," I mouthed, still making no sound.

"Permission?" he asked, pulling back to smirk at me, and I nodded, seeing nothing but his lips before they were on mine.

It was simultaneously nothing and everything I'd expected; his lips were burning hot against mine, but soft, smooth, perfect – there was no thinking involved, the moment too flawless for it. We kissed fiercely, like it was our last moment together, hands clinging to each other, desperate to pull closer. It lasted forever but not nearly long enough, and when it was over, I was on fire, wanting more.

My fingers were digging into his chest, and I pulled them off of him, seeing fading white scratches on his skin. I glanced up to meet his eyes, and his whole being was lit up like the sun I always compared him to. His smile was blinding, and I leaned forward and kissed him again, much more gently this time, smiling against his lips.

"I can't believe that just happened," I breathed, and he laughed, pressing his nails into my back briefly trying to pull me impossibly closer.

"I can't either," he chuckled, taking my face and pulling me back to he could look at me again. "You're a good kisser."

"I shouldn't be, you were my first kiss," I said, forgetting to be embarrassed until the words were out of my mouth. But like usual, it was hard to be embarrassed around Jacob.

He grinned, nodding. "Ditto."

"Wow," I said, having a hard time not splitting my cheeks with my grin. "How many boys can say their first kiss was with the girl they imprinted on?"

He laughed and then pulled me forward to kiss me again, ever so gentle. These small kisses were unlike our fiery, desperate first one, but still just as perfect. "Not many, I don't think."

"Well, I can think of one." I brought my hand up to touch his lips, in disbelief that I'd finally felt them on mine. "His name is Jacob, and I'm kind of obsessed with him."

"Oh yeah?" he asked, biting his bottom lip because he knew I was staring at it. I looked away without thinking like I had been doing up until this point, and then rolled my eyes at him. "You should probably tell him that," Jake said.

"He'll think I'm crazy if he knows how obsessed I am," I said truthfully, pulling my fingers through his hair again. I fought a blush, not meeting his eyes, but he reached out and tipped my chin up so I looked at him.

I didn't expect him to kiss me again, but he did, keeping his eyes closed a few seconds after it ended. "I think he probably knows you're both a little crazy."

"Good to know," I laughed, reaching up and kissing him lightly again just as his eyes began to open, and he smiled under my lips.

"I could do this forever." He put his hands on the sides of my face and kissed me once, twice, three times, and I pressed my fingers into his chest again, utterly blissful.

After a couple quiet seconds where my head was against his chest, our arms locked around each other, he tensed, his arms tightening painfully at my sides; one arm shot out and started the car, and he started muttering – "Safest way, safest way, run or drive? Get out?" I pulled back to look at him, and he was confused but intense, like he was prepared for a moment like this. Completely unaware of what was happening, I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong, but he shook his head sharply. Don't talk, then.

He apparently decided on driving, and floored it, somehow not stalling the tiny car as we flew down the wet highway. It started drizzling after a few seconds, our trek leading us under a raincloud, and I reached over and cranked his window back up. His whole body was hard, every muscle tensed, and I slid off his lap, staying close to his side how we usually would in the car.

"What's happening, Jacob?" I said after a minute had passed; I was looking around us, at the trees, but saw nothing. "What are we doing?"

"I smelled her, the woman," he said carefully, like he was trying to stay calm. I watched his hands on the wheel, searching for the slightest tremor. There was none, of course. My Jacob couldn't hurt me. "She wasn't there long but she stopped, she got close enough that her scent blew in and then just stopped right where she was. We don't know if she has more friends coming, I couldn't get out and leave you alone in the car in case there were others. None of the guys are guaranteed to be wolves right now, so I wouldn't be able to get backup in time to be sure you'd be safe. Driving seemed the best option, because I don't know how well you'd do clinging to my back as a wolf."

"Is running as a wolf faster than a car?"

"Depends on the car," he muttered, the engine roaring as he pressed the gas pedal further down. "We'll get you safe, Bella, don't worry."

Had I seemed worried? "I'm not."

He glanced at me, confused by my sureness, but then smiled as he glanced back through the windshield, wipers swishing. "You know, you're kind of stupidly fearless sometimes."

I laughed. "I trust my Jacob."

That made his expression twist, and I realized it must have just added a lot of pressure on him, my voicing aloud that I expected him to keep me safe. I didn't know what to say to fix it, continuing to search the trees around us for any sign of the woman.

It all happened very quickly after that.

I didn't exactly see what rushed out onto the road in front of us, even after we slammed into it, and the screech of metal ripped through my eardrums, our sudden cease of movement sending me flying toward the windshield. In several swift movements, Jacob caught me, kicked open – or off – the driver's side door, and launched us out of it, rain stinging my skin as we flew out of the car across the empty road toward the tree line. He tucked me into a ball and caught the impact of our landing with mostly his back, and I heard no sounds suggesting he was injured except the breath whooshing out of his lungs.

There was another very brief second where Jacob seemed to contemplate, and then he put my back against a tree, turning in front of me and changing into a wolf right before my eyes, like what had happened an eternity ago. He was the same russet-colored, shaggy wolf I had seen that night, and he crouched down, half of his body beside me and the other half stretching in front of me, snarling toward the road.

I tore my eyes from him to see the scene in front of us; there were several people standing around the horribly wrecked Rabbit, which had skidded considerably toward the opposite side of the road. I recognized a small girl as Alice Cullen, crouched like my Jacob but facing the same target as him – the brunette woman who had caused so much chaos.

Judging by the state of her clothing, she was what had taken the car's impact. She stood crouching like the others, rain having soaked her hair and much of her torn clothes. Behind her was a blond male vampire I hadn't seen before, different from the one that had accompanied this woman the time I had seen her in Emily's front yard. I thought that he was on her side until he pounced forward, and to avoid him the brunette woman flew toward us, Jacob meeting her as she came toward me. There was another screeching metal sound, and I saw something white fly into the trees several yards away from me, but couldn't and didn't want to decipher what it was.

The woman was very clearly outnumbered, and she knew it, her eyes darting back and forth between the vampires approaching her and my Jacob, searching for an escape. I was just looking at the man with blond hair, trying to determine his eye color, when I started becoming aware of myself; I glanced down at my arms as raindrops started to burn them, realizing that what I had thought was rain stinging my arms while I flew toward the trees had actually been glass. There was none in my arms that I could see, but I was criss-crossed with thin scratches, like I'd lost a fight with a cat.

"Bella," a voice said behind me, and I recognized it immediately, cringing away from Edward as he came up behind me. I didn't have to check to know he wouldn't be breathing, especially with blood seeping from the scratches on my arms. "Come with me, we're leaving."

"Like hell we are," I growled, stumbling to my feet. "I won't leave my Jacob."

As I said the words, Jacob leapt toward the brunette woman again, and she flew off, Alice having anticipated her movement and catching up to her. She landed on the woman's back and then flew off as if she'd been stunned, landing on the ground immobile.

"Alice," Edward breathed, looking from the woman to his sister and back again as Jacob chased after the brunette. "Maybe only vampires—?"

No longer worried much about the vampires, I jogged out of the trees and onto the road, where somehow no cars had managed to witness the scene. "Bella!" Edward called after me, and I glanced back at him and then at Alice, whose eyes were blank as she stared toward the sky. The blond vampire was kneeling at her side, his hands on her face.

I passed the duo on the pavement and dove into the Rabbit, my Jacob's precious and homemade car a complete wreck now, and searched the piles of glass and bent metal for Jake's sweatshirt. I backed out onto the road and shook the glass from it, pulling it over my head.

"Careful, Bella," Edward said, his voice close to me again; I jumped away, accidentally backing into the car with the black fabric blocking my eyes, and felt cold hands on my arms, steadying me and then smoothly pulling down the sweatshirt so I could see. I hastily fixed my hands in the sleeves, fighting tears and a blush.

"Thanks," I grumbled, pulling my hair free and tossing it over my shoulders. "Is Alice okay?" I asked, forgetting entirely until I'd spoken that I wasn't supposed to know that he would have any idea she was okay other than verbal assurance, which was absent.

He seemed not to notice, his eyes darting back to his still-immobile sister. "She'll be okay. The effects from the woman's gift only last a few minutes."

"Long enough for her to get away."

"Yes." He looked confused for a second, and I ignored him, gritting my teeth and sitting as best as I could on the seat of the Rabbit, my legs still on the street.

"Where is my Jacob?" I asked, figuring that he would either be able to hear the wolf's mind or physical movements from this distance.

"Not too far. She got away."

"You said only vampires," I stated, trying to continue a clear thinking process. "She can only do – that – to you guys? Not him?"

"No, her physical contact with the wolves has thus far proven her gift is species-specific," he said.

"Why can't you just talk like a person," I said, putting my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands. "Seriously." I glanced up, pulling back the sleeve of the sweatshirt to see my arms. Some blood, but not much. "How are you talking if you're not breathing?"

He looked confused again, swallowing before speaking. "You're more observant than I gave you credit for, Bella."

"You should work at a Chinese restaurant or something," I growled, putting my face back in my hands.

"Why is that?"

"You're so cryptic, you could write fortune cookies."

I didn't glance up in time to see his reaction, but the ghost of a smile was on his face when I heard movement from the trees and looked for the source, several giant wolves racing onto the pavement. I glanced back and forth, searching for cars. How were there still none? This road wasn't highly populated, but come on.

Among the wolves, I didn't see my Jacob, and I stood up immediately, craning my neck pointlessly searching for his fur. I grabbed Edward's arm, knowing he could hear. "Where is he?" I begged, still desperately trying not to cry. "You can hear, tell me."

He looked surprised and then not, like he had somehow expected me to figure him out. "He's not in pain."

I dug my nails into him, his skin like rock. "Where is he?" I pleaded, my heartbeat pounding in my ears, my arms no longer hurting as adrenaline pumped through my veins. "Edward, please."

His eyes softened, and he loosened my fingers, knowing I was likely to hurt myself on his skin. "Bella…"

I could see in his eyes what had happened. He's not in pain. The woman hadn't gotten away, like Edward had thought. Jacob had thought she was gone, had likely let his guard down in his haste to get back to me…

Everything was black.