Prologue

My earliest memory is of her. Her hair turned red in the weak sunlight and she had ice cream on her cheeks. Daddy was wiping her face with a damp cloth. She was wearing a purple shirt and a frown. I didn't know her name but I knew she was the prettiest thing I had ever seen.

The tall man had brought her. My daddy said his name was Uncle Charlie. But I didn't know who this pretty girl was. My sisters were talking to her now, showing her their toys. She looked impressed with their toys. I looked down at my G.I Joe. Maybe I should give her G.I Joe, she would like that, and then she would like me.

I heard someone calling my name and I looked behind me, turning away from the pretty girl for a moment. My mommy came out of the front door with a blue shirt in her hands. She put her hands up and I copied her. She slipped the shirt over my head. I made sure to hold onto my G.I Joe.

"Mommy who's that?" I asked, pulling on her dress to get her attention as she sorted my clothes. Mommy looked down at me and picked me up. She held me close and touched my nose with a long finger. She smelt like flowers and soap.

"Who is who?" she asked me, tickling my tummy. I squealed and giggled and tried to get away. I almost lost G.I Joe, and that would have been bad. I held onto him tightly.

"Who is she?" I asked again pointing at the pretty girl. Mommy smiled.

"That's Bella, Uncle Charlie's little girl," Mommy told me walking toward the pretty girl and Uncle Charlie. Bella was a pretty name and it suited the pretty girl. I watched as Rebecca took her dolly back and Bella's face crumpled. Rebecca ran away with the dolly and the pretty girl looked so sad.

"She's pretty Mommy," I said and wrapped my arms round her neck "But she looks sad."

"Maybe you should tell her that and she would be happy," Mommy said. Of course, that made perfect sense. I nodded in agreement and Mommy put me down. I walked right up to the pretty girl. She was squatting down on the grass and her purple shirt was dirty now. I thrust out my G.I Joe.

"Hi I'm Jacob and this is G.I Joe and you should play with him so that you will be happy again." I said. The pretty girl looked at me funny but then she took G.I Joe out of my hands. She still didn't look happy. I tired again.

"And I think your pretty and Mommy said that if I told you then it would make you happy again," I said earnestly. Bella held G.I Joe by the head in one hand and pointed to herself with the other.

"I'm pretty?" she asked. I nodded and waited for her to smile and laugh and do happy things. But instead she looked at my G.I Joe again and frowned. I remembered when Mommy was sad that Daddy had a special way of making her happy. I decided to try one more time.

I grabbed a hold of Bella's purple shirt and she looked up at me. I stumbled a little bit closer and then I put my mouth on hers. That always made Mommy happy when Daddy did it, so it would have to make Bella happy too. I didn't realize at first that I was no longer touching the pretty girl. One moment I was holding her shirt, trying to make her happy, next second I was on the ground. Bella had pushed me away and then loudest noise I've ever heard wailed through the air.

"Daddy!" It was Bella. She was yelling! Had I mucked up the mouth on mouth thing? Mommy never yelled at Daddy after he did that. Mommy appeared then and scooped me up, taking me back toward the house. Uncle Charlie had picked up Bella and now he was trying to make her happy, but he didn't have any G.I Joes so I didn't know what he was going to do. My G.I Joe had fallen on the ground; maybe Uncle Charlie would use him. Daddy was there in his special chair and he was laughing so much his whole body was shaking. I didn't know what I had done wrong. I decided to ask Mommy.

"Mommy what happened?" I asked "Why is Bella still sad?"

"I think you gave her a bit of a fright kiddo," Mommy said, laughing. I frowned. I didn't want to scare her. How had my plan failed so miserably? I reached out to Mommy, wrapping my hand into her soft hair.

"But you are happy when Daddy does that to you," I explained. It seemed obvious to me, but I couldn't figure out why it didn't work when I did it. I was sure I had done it right but maybe I would have to do it again to get it perfect.

"But Daddy and I love each other very much," Mommy said, opening the door and stepping inside our house. I could still hear Bella crying.

"But I love her too. She's the prettiest girl I've ever seen," I insisted "One day when were all grown up I'm going to marry her and then she will be happy". Mommy smiled at me and put me down on the couch. She sat down next to me and I cuddled up into her lap.

"Ok but I think you should ask Bella before you do that again. Ok Jake?" Mommy asked me. I nodded and wrapped my arms round her. Mommy held me and I felt warm and safe. The pretty girls face came to mind. I would do it, I decided. I would marry her one day and then she would be happy. I wanted nothing more than to make the pretty girl happy.

My whole body shook violently as I stood. I was naked but I didn't care. Warm hands held me upright and Sam Uley's face appeared in front of me. He looked detached and his words were almost clinical.

"Are you going to throw up, Jacob?"

I shook my head even though I wasn't sure if that was the truth. Embry was by my side and the hands left me. I swayed on my feet before I felt Embry lift one of my arms over his head to rest on his shoulders, supporting my body with his. I only realized I was moving when I almost tripped and was saved by Embry. My feet felt as if they were not connected to my body.

"He's almost as bad as Paul was," Jared scoffed, his large frame just in front of me "I thought our supposed Alpha would have been a bit tougher than this."

"Shut up Jared," Paul's voice was angry "You threw up twice."

"Yeah well at least I didn't faint."

"I did not faint!" Paul's voice sounded like he had just screamed through a mega phone. Could I scream that loud now? Paul and Jared were right up in each others faces. Sam sighed wearily.

"You so did, I've seen Sam's thoughts. You passed out like a little bi-ow!" Jared yelped as Paul's fist smashed into his face. The force of the blow knocked Jared from his feet. Embry stopped walking and so did I. An inhuman growl erupted from Jared, who reached up and touched his damaged nose with his fingers. They shone red in the moonlight.

Jared's whole body blurred once, twice and then Jared was gone. In his place was a huge dark brown wolf and it was hurtling toward Paul at a phenomenal speed. Paul was growling now too and threw him self forward, phasing mid stride. The smaller silver wolf smashed into the brown one with a sound like thunder. Sam had disappeared, reappearing as the black wolf that had chased me and pinned me to the forest floor when I was one of them. When I was in wolf form.

Oh God.

I watched as the wolves continued to fight moving out of my range of sight, the black Sam-wolf running after them. I could still hear the snapping and growling and it was so loud it made my ears ring. I could see trees shaking and the occasional loud crash told me someone, or something, had been thrown against one. I was definitely going to throw up now.

"Have I gone crazy?" I whispered, half afraid of what the answer would be. Embry chuckled sarcastically.

"You might as well have," he replied.

Fan-fucking-tastic.