CHAPTER SIX

Jared and I took the bus back to La Push. We didn't speak much on the journey and I sat there thinking about Jacob, hoping he wasn't going to get any more problems from the jerks I had once called friends. By the time we reached Sam Uley's house on the edge of La Push by the woods, it was almost two o'clock.

"Who is this guy, anyway?" I tried one more time to get something out of Jared, but he wasn't telling me a thing.

"Paul, don't stare when you see his girlfriend," he said as we climbed the steps to the door. "She has some scars. You'll upset him if it's obvious you're looking."

"Fine; whatever," I shrugged.

Jared knocked on the door of the house, then opened it and walked in.

"Jared! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?"

A girl of about eighteen or nineteen smiled at him and I immediately noticed three terrible scars down the side of her face; they looked like claw marks. I quickly looked at her eyes instead.

"Emily, this is Paul," Jared introduced. "We need to see Sam; is he here?"

"Yes, he's working through the back," she said. "Make yourselves at home, I'll go get him." She left the room.

"What happened to her?" I whispered to Jared.

"Sshh. Not now."

I sat down on the sofa with a sigh, then got up again as a guy walked into the room. He was a little taller and more muscular than me, with short black hair and dark eyes and he didn't look particularly friendly.

"Sam, this is Paul," Jared said.

Sam eyed me up and down and I felt strangely nervous. He intimidated me for some reason, more than anyone I'd ever met aside from my Dad.

"Paul." Sam stuck his hand out and I put mine into it to shake. His skin was hotter even than mine and his grip so firm that I thought he might break my fingers. He let go after a second and then smiled. "Relax, I don't bite." He shot a sudden grin at Jared, which instantly made him look more approachable.

"I'll leave you to it," Jared said and made his way to the kitchen where Emily had gone. "Hey, Em, what have you got to eat?" He closed the door behind him.

Sam dropped into an armchair and hooked one ankle over his knee. I sat down on the sofa once again.

"Why am I here?" I asked. The last few minutes had been pretty strange and weirder still was the feeling that Sam was to be some kind of mentor - like a father figure or boss or something.

"You're a Lahote, Jared told me," Sam said. "Moved here recently?"

"Yes, at the beginning of the summer."

"Your Dad grew up here?"

"Yeah."

"And has he told you anything about his past?"

"A bit. Why?"

"Anything about the history of our tribe?"

"Yes. I had this girlfriend back in Tacoma who was fascinated by it, so Dad told me stories about...uh..."

"Shape-shifters," Sam said. "The last of them were in our great-grandparents' time."

"You're saying that like it's true." I almost laughed, but bit my lip. He wasn't joking. His face was as serious as if he were about to tell me someone had died.

"Jared says you've suddenly grown taller; more muscular. Performed some stunt jumping out a window."

Now I did laugh. "I was just lucky. I wanted to help a friend who was getting bullied."

"Paul, this isn't a joke," said Sam calmly. "You are a descendant of the Uley family. My great-grandfather and your great-grandmother had the same father..."

"Wait, you're losing me," I said. "Are you saying we're related?"

"Very distantly."

"I always knew this place was inbred," I muttered and then a new thought struck me - a pretty worrying one. "Am I related to the Blacks?"

"No," Sam frowned. "Not even a little bit. Why is that important?"

"It's not. Never mind. Sorry."

I inwardly heaved a sigh of relief and did my best to concentrate on what he was telling me. All of it kind of made sense but at the same time was unbelievable. The shape-shifter legend wasn't just a legend; it was real and I was one of them, or about to become one of them. The heat, my sudden growth and strength and my almost uncontrollable rage when Jared had dragged me away from Jacob - all of it indicated I had very little time left before I became...a wolf. The whole point was to protect the people of La Push and Forks from vampires, who were expected to be coming through Washington in the not too distant future. After that, the whole conversation began to seem like some weird dream. I didn't believe in vampires - not one bit - but then again, if I was about to turn into a wolf and run around on four legs howling at the moon, were vampires really so strange? It was all going to take a while to sink in.

"Does my Dad know about this? About me?" I asked.

"No, but he will; one of the elders will talk to him, or maybe Billy Black. You do not talk to anyone about this. It stays within the pack."

"Ok."

"There's something else," Sam said, his frown deepening. "You've seen Emily's...scars."

His eyes closed briefly and he looked as if he were in physical pain. He took a deep breath and looked up at me again.

"Was that one of the...shape-shifters?" I asked.

"It was me." Another grimace. "You have to be very careful if you're close to someone. If you lose your temper and you're standing too near them, you can hurt them; even kill them. Emily forgave me for that, but I still have to live with it; I'll never forgive myself."

"Shit," I whispered, immediately thinking about Jacob.

"You just have to learn to control it," Sam went on. "Initially you can phase at a moment's notice if you're mad or upset about something. You get a little warning, but not much. A ball of heat inside you, making you feel like you're going to explode; shaking, narrowing of vision. That can all happen in a second, but if you're aware of it, you can stop it."

I nodded. That was exactly what happened at school. If Jared hadn't succeeded in getting me to calm down I could have injured him. I shuddered.

"Who else is there? Jared is one, right?" I said.

"Yeah. He's my Beta; second in command. When I'm not around, he leads."

"I got that part," I said, remembering how I'd been unable to argue with him.

"You know Embry Call?" Sam said then.

"Yeah, he's in some of my classes."

"He's my half-brother; we think he'll be next. Probably Quil Ateara too - his great-grandfather shifted. And Jacob Black. Maybe the Clearwater boy..."

"So, if you know who's going to join the pack, can't they know about it?" I interrupted, interested that Jacob was going to be like me.

"No. Because none of it's certain. We don't want a dozen boys who may or may not shift knowing about us. Only after they show signs of it."

"Shit," I muttered. "Jacob's my...friend."

"Well, this is one thing you don't talk to him about. If you can't keep it to yourself, don't see him," Sam said firmly.

"Ok," I said. Great. Just as what I had wanted for so long was about to happen, I had to start out by keeping this huge secret from him and in addition, risk losing my temper and hurting him. For a moment - only a moment - I considered stopping it before it started, but I knew I wouldn't be able to stay away from him. I would just have to learn to control myself.

Jared and I left shortly after and then he began to talk to me, almost as if I was one of his best friends all of a sudden, except that he tried to convince me his earlier suggestion that I stay away from Jacob was for our own good.

"Listen," I said. "I understand the danger. But I'm less likely to lose it with Jacob than anybody else I know," I said. "Don't you think there's more of a risk of me changing and hurting Tom Stewart and his bunch of assholes? If you think I'm a risk to everyone, then how can I even go to school any more? Be near anyone?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Sam told me hang out with you as much as I can, at least until you phased a few times and you have some control."

"Well, you stopped it happening earlier," I reminded him. "I can live with that." I looked at my wristwatch suddenly, wondering how long we had been out of school and was surprised to find the afternoon classes had already finished and the school bus would be on its way back to La Push. "I have to go," I said.

"Sure. I'll see you tomorrow."

I nodded at Jared and took off, reasoning that I had just about enough time to get over to the other side of the reservation where the school bus stopped and catch up with Jacob when he got off it. He must have been wondering where I'd got to all afternoon. I broke into a run and made it about five minutes before the bus. I could see it in the distance coming down the road from the higher ground between La Push and Forks. Immediately I was filled with excitement at the thought of seeing Jacob and the events of my bizarre afternoon went out of my head. I fidgeted at the bus stop until the vehicle halted and everyone began to scramble off. I could see Embry, Quil and Jacob at the back and they were last off the bus. Jacob spotted me at once, said goodbye to the other two and came over to me.

"Hey, where did you get to?" he asked.

"I skipped class," I said, thinking quickly. "I lost my temper over those guys messing with you; I thought I better go off and calm down." At least part of that was true although I still felt shitty for not being able to tell him everything. I changed the subject. "How's your Dad?"

"Good. I didn't tell you he's diabetic, did I? He has to go to the hospital for blood tests and stuff every few months. I forgot all about the appointment until Sunday. I would have called you, but I don't know your number."

"Do you have a cellphone?" I asked.

"Sure."

Jacob pulled a phone out of his jacket pocket. I took it from him and entered my number in the contacts, then sent myself a text so I would also have his number. I gave him the phone back and then grasped hold of his hand. I wasn't sure if he would pull away or not, but his fingers curled around mine and I saw him smile although he didn't look at me. I glanced around us and realised the street was now deserted. The kids from the bus had scattered and it was already dark with winter on the doorstep. There was a large wooden bus shelter set back from the edge of the road and I drew Jacob into it. I let go of his hand and brushed his hair out of his face, then bent to kiss him, noticing that I was a couple of inches taller than him now, where I hadn't been before.

His face was cold, but his lips warm as they responded eagerly to my kiss and I slid my arms around him, pulling him tight against me. He almost seemed to melt in my arms, his arms tight around my back, his tongue heatedly exploring in response to mine plunging into his mouth. I slid my hand between us and pulled down the zipper of the fleece jacket he was wearing, slid my hand beneath it and around to his back. I found myself more excited than I'd ever been in my life; I was rock hard and I couldn't stop myself grinding my body against his, dipping my hand lower until my fingers slipped beneath the low waistband of his jeans, feeling the jersey fabric of his underwear and the firm flesh of his butt. He moaned into my mouth, the nails of one hand digging into my neck and as I moved against him I felt he was just as aroused as I was.

I had to force myself to slow things down again, remembering where we were. The street was deserted at that moment, but someone could soon turn up and catch us. I drew my mouth away from his reluctantly and slid my hand up his back again, just hugging him, stroking my hand through his hair.

"We should get out of here," I murmured, wishing I had somewhere I could take him. We could hardly go to my place - my Dad wouldn't let us in my room and would probably go crazy at me anyway, just for taking a boy home, even if all we did was sit in the kitchen and eat dinner. If only I could drive and had a car.

"Do you have to get home?" Jacob asked.

"No," I said at once. I knew I'd be in trouble for not going home straight from school, but even the prospect of my Dad's wrath later wasn't going to make me tear myself away from him quite yet.

"Do you want to come over to ours for dinner, then? It'll just be microwaved stuff or pizza or something."

"Sounds great," I said, letting go of him at last and willing my erection to go down. I could hardly go and meet Billy Black with a raging hard-on. However, by the time we had walked back to Jacob's house, thankfully it had subsided and I was beginning to realise I was hungry.

Jacob charged into the house, dragged his boots off and hung his jacket on a peg in the hallway. I did the same and followed him into a large lounge room where his Dad was sitting in a wheelchair watching television.

"Dad, this is Paul," Jacob said as Billy looked up at us.

"Good to meet you, Paul." Billy held his hand out and I shook it.

"You too, Mr Black."

"Billy," he corrected. "You're Mick Lahote's son, aren't you?"

"Yes, that's right."

Jacob disappeared into the kitchen to look for food and left me there making smalltalk with Billy. He seemed pretty nice and asked me about what I thought of La Push and how I was doing in school. He said he remembered the Lahote family from years back before my Dad left for college. Jacob came back in moments later and announced he had shoved some food in the oven to heat up. It would be around forty-five minutes so we left his Dad to his television programme and went to Jacob's room. He closed the door behind him and sat down on the narrow bed beneath the window. I hovered, wondering what Billy thought of me turning up for dinner with his son.

"So who does your Dad think I am? Your boyfriend?" I said with a grin leaning against the door.

Jacob blushed deeply. "Well, I didn't tell him that."

"Does he know you like guys?"

"Yeah."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, he's cool, so long as I'm happy."

"You're lucky." I went to sit down on the bed next to him. "My Dad's disgusted by me," I admitted.

"Did he say that?"

"He beat the shit out of me for fooling around with this guy."

"Oh my God, that's awful," Jacob gasped. "So he's not going to want me hanging around, then."

"No; I'll just have to hang around here instead," I said with a grin, leaning over to kiss his cheek.

"So...who was this guy then?" Jacob asked.

"Which guy?" I kissed his ear and he shivered.

"The one you got caught fooling around with."

Shit, should I tell him about Richie or Eugene? Both - be honest. I couldn't tell him about the pack, but I could tell him everything else.

"Um...you know when I met you? It was a couple of weeks before that. It was nothing, just a bit of fun. And there was one other time in Tacoma. I had a girlfriend for nearly a year and I messed it up by fooling with this boy from school. My Dad broke my arm and my nose over it. My arm was still in a cast when we moved here."

Jacob edged closer to me and kissed my neck. "That must be lousy, having your Dad treat you like that," he said.

"Yeah, well, I figured as soon as I finish school I can get a job and leave. I put up with it since I was eight, another year or two won't kill me."

'Especially now I'm stronger', I thought.

"Did you...uh...sleep with them?" Jacob asked, barely above a whisper. I glanced down and noticed he was colouring up again.

"No. I never slept with a guy."

"Ok."

"So now you know all my secrets, what have you got to confess?" I teased. "Any skeletons in the closet?"

Jacob grinned. "Not one. My life's been really boring. Oh, except for this one night last summer. I went to this bonfire party..."

I smirked. "Oh, yeah?"

"I hate parties so I went off on my own. This guy came over to talk to me. Staggering around drunk; said he was on vacation. We started kissing, but then my friends came looking for me and ruined it."

"Shame," I said. "Did you like the guy?"

"Yeah. I spent about the next three days at the beach hoping he might come back, but I waited in vain." He stuck his bottom lip out.

"Aww. That's sad. Guess you'll have to make do with me." I kissed him lightly on the lips, thinking that if anyone could have heard us, they'd probably be reaching for a bucket by now. Corny just didn't even begin to describe it, but I was happy; happier than I'd been in my life. I knew I was falling for him and he seemed just as keen as I was; I was determined not to let my old gang, his friends, my new shape-shifter status or my Dad spoil it.