Carlisle examined me again. But all he found was a few bruises and amazingly no broken bones. I couldn't even believe it myself, I was sure I'd broken every bone in my hand after trying to slap Zachary.

Alice got me some of her clothes and helped me change into them. At first I was cautious about letting her dress me, but then I remembered that she had helped dressed me in the forest and this was no different.

Now, I was sitting in the living room of the Cullen house, waiting for the men to get done talking in the kitchen. I sat next to Renesmee and she was flipping through the channels aimlessly; obviously not caring what to watch.

"What do you think is going to happen?" I asked her, trying to look her in the eyes. She was just too pretty, it was sort of shocking me to be next to her.

"Well, I think Quil is going to finally convince Sam that this house is a better place for all the imprints while Zachary is out there. I mean, both times you were attacked, my father and Carlisle were able to help. It makes more sense," she said, smoothing out her knee length skirt.

"So, we would just live here? What about school and where would we sleep?" I asked, actually curious.

"This house is huge, each wolf and their imprint would have a room for themselves. And you're the only one who's enrolled in school, and there is only a few weeks left. I'm sure they could get your homework for you and you would be able to pass," she said, turning off the television and turning to face me.

I shrugged, "That might be fun. Quil and I would be around each other constantly." The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea.

She smiled and nodded, but then turned her attention to something else. She looked up with love in her eyes at something behind me. I turned around, and it was Jacob.

"Jake!" she said, letting him take her in his arms. He held her just right so that her skirt didn't fly down to uncover her thighs.

"Hey, Ness, just talking with Claire here?" he asked her, clearly with as much love in his eyes as she had for him.

A look into the future of what Quil and I would be someday.

Speaking of Quil, he walked in the living room and sat beside me immediately, his arm around my shoulders. I hadn't seen him at all since he had been in wolf form. I didn't even know what had happened to him, Edward, or Zachary.

"Quil?" I asked feverishly, "What happened after you went into the school?"

He clenched his teeth and looked down, "He got away before I could even reach the school. He's too fast and too strong," he hissed. "I'm so sorry Claire, I should have been listening better, I should have heard your heartbeat speed up."

I tilted my head, "How would you do that? I thought you go to work after you drop me off..."

He breathed in a sharp breath. "Claire, watching you is my job. When you're at school, I park my truck nearby and phase so I can listen real close to what's happening. I just didn't think he would actually dare to come in to your school..."

I put my hand over his mouth, "Don't apologize."

His eyebrows furrowed and he removed my hand softly, "If I ever get my hands on him, he's a dead man. What did he do to you?"

I squeezed his hand in mine, "He didn't hurt me like before... none of my bones are broken," I informed him proudly."

He wrapped his arms around me and held me just right, "You don't have to worry about it anymore, Claire, we're staying here."

"What!" I inquired with wide eyes, "Seriously!"

He nodded, "Your uncle isn't very happy about it. But, he agreed that you are Zachary's number one target, and that you should be under very special watch. The rest of the pack doesn't want their imprints here," he said.

"And you'll be staying here too?" I asked, holding on to him tighter now.

"Yes, Claire, I'll be here. Tomorrow Emily is going to get your list of assignments for class for the rest of the year. So we'll have a lot of homework to do, but once you're finished it will be your real summer vacation."

"Do you still have to go on the weekends?" I asked, praying the answer was no.

"Yes," he sighed, "During that time all the imprints will be here only because there's no one else who can take on Zachary. I wish we didn't have to go, but I know we'll find him soon and take him down. Trust me," he sounded so truthful, it would be hard not to trust him and every sweet word he said.

I screamed and ran faster and faster, all the while screaming Quil's name over and over. It wasn't that I was calling to him to come and help: I knew he was not far ahead of me and that he needed to get out oft the danger.

I dared myself to look over my shoulder and once I did I realized that I was no longer being chased by that... monster. This didn't stop me continuing on because for all I knew he could have ran ahead of me and gotten to my Quil first.

"Quil!" I screamed, hurting my throat with the strength of my voice. "Run! Get out of here! Now!"

A million questions popped in my head: could he here me? Did it matter to him? No, it didn't, he wouldn't get out of harm's way until I was. But I couldn't let anything happen so I continued to run faster towards him; perhaps towards the monster too.

After I got to where I had been heading, a very small, remote clearing in the woods, I looked around and saw nothing. "Quil?" I cried out a lot softer than before. I fell to my knees and began sobbing.

Out of nowhere a pair of arms wrapped themselves around me and I was almost about to melt into them before I realized these arms were cold and hard; stone arms. I squealed some more and tried to move in his arms but it wasn't possible. He was just too strong.

"No! Please!" I begged him quietly, out of energy to scream or yelp.

He just encircled me tighter with one arm and let the other pick up strands of my hair and inhaled. Then, his free arm went to my waist and pulled the hem of my shirt up, exposing my left hip. I clenched my teeth and no longer cried audibly; just shook.

"Let go of me! No!" I continued to whisper over and over.

"Claire..." a voice trailed off, sounding a little worried. "Claire!"

Confused, I turned my head to look at the monster. He kept mouthing 'Claire' over and over but the voice didn't sound like his. It sounded like Quil's. I knitted my eyebrows together in confusion and grunted: still begging him to let me go.

"Claire! Wake up! It's okay, honey..." Quil's voice said as the scene before me faded and I went to darkness. Then, straight out of darkness, I woke to a bright light.

Dazed and scared, I screamed again tried to get on my feet. Right as my foot touched the ground I realized I had made a big mistake and expected to collapse because of the heavy caste taking half of my leg up.

But, I got lucky, and this time a pair of warm arms were around me and I was lifted off the floor instantly and on to the bed: on my side, facing Quil.

He looked more worried than I had really ever seen him. I gasped as I took it all in... everything that just happened was just a dream. Zachary wasn't after me... well, not chasing me anyways.

"Oh, Claire," Quil sighed, pulling me closely and resting his head on my shoulder. "Are you okay?"

I tensed and tried to nod, feeling hot water run from my eyes. Damnit.

When he felt the tears he immediately pulled me back to look at me and run his hands through my hair: a gesture that could usually calm me down.

"Don't worry," he cooed to me, making me truly not want to worry. "Nothing will hurt you. You're safe right here." He pulled me in an embrace again and rubbed my back over the cotton fabric of my shirt.

"When did you come in here?" I looked at him, biting my lip, hoping he hadn't heard how desperate I might have sounded through my sleep talking.

"Just a few minutes ago, I swear. I was eating breakfast when the mind-reader tensed up and told me that you were having a bad dream... a very bad dream. Well, then you started screaming and I ran in here: trying to wake you up," he chuckled suddenly. "Not a completely easy task.

I sighed and tried to contain my tears some more. "You could hear my screams? I was that loud?"

He rubbed my back some more and laughed again. "Don't worry, honey, really. Mostly everyone is out of the house doing their own thing. And trust me, the few that were inside were just worried more than anything. I'm sure they'll be glad to know you're okay..." he trailed off.

I didn't really know what to say so I just laid my head down on his shoulder and wound one of my hands with his; rubbing the back of his hand with my thumb, and him doing it back at me.

"Did I have you really worried?" I asked him, afraid of the answer.

He hitched his breath like he was thinking of not answering at all but eventually spoke. "Yes, Edward gave me a brief description of your dream... he said it was about that..." I could feel his jaw clench next to my head and I interrupted him.

"You don't have to say his name. It's fine, I know. But... thank you for waking me up... I don't know if I could have stood another minute of that dream."

I could tell by the silence that he really wanted to know what exactly the dream had been about; all the details.

I told him everything, feeling relaxed after everything came out. He sat absolutely still the entire time until I got to the part of Zachary pulling my shirt up a little. Quil actually took his hands and placed them over my hips; sealing the fabric against them: very possessively. I blushed a little from that and I thought I heard a low grumble come out of his mouth saying something along the lines of, "My hips." I tried not to laugh, but remembered that I was his love... his imprint. Of course he would be this protective. And, for all I cared, he owned every single organ and bone in my body.

Especially my heart.