CHAPTER NINETEEN

It was five more days before Jacob phased the first time. His temperature remained high and he stayed home on Thursday and Friday because Billy worried if something happened at school that upset him, it might happen there. Billy had called Sam who had tried to persuade Jacob to come over to our place, but he refused and hid away in his room. He wouldn't even see me on Thursday night and sent me text messages instead. After I finished work on Friday I went to see him.

"He hasn't been out of that room in two days except to go to the bathroom," Billy said worriedly. "He won't even eat."

I knocked on Jacob's door.

"Hey, it's me. Can I come in?"

"Paul, leave me alone," he grunted.

I ignored him and opened the door. He was lying on the bed in just his underwear, his skin slick with sweat, face flushed. I closed the door after me and leaned on it.

"Your Dad's worried about you," I said. "So is Sam."

"Aren't you?" he snapped, sitting up suddenly. "I'm sorry," he added immediately.

"Don't apologise."

"I feel like hell. When am I going to change?"

"Any minute, I'd say. Come back to my place. You shouldn't be on your own."

"I don't want to go to your place and have Sam and Jared and Embry all watching me like I'm a fucking science experiment!" Jacob barked. "Can't I make it happen? Get it over with?"

"Maybe. I don't know about the first time, but you can after that. Why don't you come out just with me? It's going to start getting dark soon; we could go and hang out in the woods for a while, see what happens."

"Yeah, ok." Jacob got up quickly, pulled a pair of jeans on and shoved his feet into sneakers.

"You know, you're going to have to cut your hair," I said reluctantly.

"I know. Maybe I should do it now." He hesitated for a moment. "Will you do it?"

"I'm no barber," I said with a grin.

"Just hack it off, I don't care. Emily can always tidy it up later. When I feel better."

He opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of scissors and some electric hair clippers. I had to wonder why he had hair clippers when both he and his Dad had long hair. He sat down again on the bed, his back half turned to me. I picked up the comb which lay on the bed table and grasped a handful of his hair. I hated to do it. I hesitated with the scissors in my hand for a long moment before I cut. Ten minutes later, he had short hair like mine. I used the clippers to neaten it up as much as I could and I suppose it didn't look too bad. I had left it about an inch long so Emily would have enough to work with to improve things. Jacob ran his hand over it when I finished.

"Shit," he muttered. "It hasn't been this short since I was nine years old. I started growing it after my Mom died."

We left the house a few minutes later and walked to the woods. Jacob didn't talk and it was clear he was nervous and irritable. It was only when we were hidden amongst the trees that he said anything.

"What do I have to do?"

"Being mad about something makes it happen pretty fast," I said. "I can't seem to do it just by willpower, I have to think about you being hurt or something. Sam and Jared just visualise themselves as wolves and they change. Embry hasn't said, but he manages it ok."

"I don't want it to just take me by surprise," Jacob said.

"You should take your jeans off," I told him. "Otherwise you'll have to walk back to Sam's naked."

"Yeah." He took his jeans and sneakers off, leaving his shorts on. I forced my mind not to turn to sex and did the same. If he did phase, I wanted to be able to catch him up in seconds so I could talk to him.

We were still there an hour later. Jacob didn't talk much; he paced about and thought, but nothing happened. Sweat ran off him and steam rose from his skin in the cool air, but he didn't change.

"I can't do it," he said eventually. "I can't concentrate on anything. Too nervous, I guess."

"Close your eyes," I told him.

"What?"

"Just do it." I was standing about ten feet away and I guessed it would be enough. He closed his eyes. "Clear your mind," I went on. "Relax and stop thinking about it for a minute."

He took a deep breath and then stood motionless. I didn't know if it would work or not, but Jared had once described what he did in detail and he never had any trouble.

"Imagine yourself on all fours. Imagine looking down at yourself; two large paws on the ground in front of you. When you look over your shoulder, fur, two more paws, tail...woah!"

Jacob's eyes flew open at my exclamation and after a second, looked down at himself, seeing what I was seeing. Damnit, I wasn't ready. I squeezed my eyes shut and pictured him hurt, bleeding, screaming in pain. I looked up again as a wolf.

"Shit," Jacob thought. "It worked."

I was unable to think of a coherent reply for a moment and I couldn't take my eyes off him. He was the same size as me, with thick russet fur, a slightly lighter coloured belly, deep brown eyes, long waving tail, rippling muscles under the fur.

"You...are...beautiful." I couldn't stop myself thinking it.

"Shut up." Jacob's embarrassed laugh came into my head.

"I mean it. Stunning. Jesus, Paul, stop thinking that."

"I can hear everything you're thinking." His tone was amused.

"I know! Damnit."

I heard Jacob's laugh in my head again; the laugh he gave when he was really tickled by something. His tongue was lolling out of his mouth and his eyes sparkling.

"Well, I made it. And I'm...what was that, Paul? Beautiful?"

"Huh. Yeah." I shook myself vigorously.

"That mean you think I'm better looking as a wolf than a human?"

"What the hell. I can just be honest. I always thought you were beautiful. Since my first day at school when you were walking towards the lockers with Embry and Quil and I was with those jerks I used to call friends and I was like...wow. That's him. The kid from the beach. All I could think about was kissing you again."

More laughter and then he stopped teasing me long enough to ask what happened next. We spent maybe a couple of hours as wolves, bounding through the forest and playing together like a pair of foolish puppies. Eventually we returned to where we had left our clothes. Jacob phased back before I did; it was virtually instant, as if he'd had months of practise. I took a minute longer.

"God, you're good," I said. "For the first time, you're better at it than me already."

"I just saw myself human," he said, shrugging. "It just happened."

"How do you feel now?" I asked.

"Good. Relieved." He grinned suddenly. "Interested to know you think I'm beautiful."

"Don't start that again." I stepped closer to him and slid my arms around him. "I'm not too good at keeping my thoughts to myself. Hell, once when this first happened to me, I was thinking about you..." I brushed my lips against his. "...kissing you...touching you..."

"When you were with Sam and Jared?" Jacob laughed again. "They must have loved that."

"Not especially," I grinned. I made myself let go of him before I was tempted to start something else. "I guess we better go and see Sam."

"Yeah. And Emily. I didn't dare look in the mirror." He ran a hand over his new short hair.

We reached the house in about a half hour and found Sam and Emily just finishing dinner.

"You shifted?" Sam said, the minute he saw Jacob.

"Yeah."

"Paul, I told you to bring him here." Sam frowned at me.

"Don't blame him, I said I didn't want to come here," Jacob said. "I wouldn't have felt comfortable with you all looking at me. It was fine."

"It was more than fine," I put in. "He's a natural."

"That's good," Sam nodded.

"Who cut your hair?" Emily asked.

"Me," I said, grimacing slightly.

"Goodness, Paul, did you do it in the dark?" Emily ushered Jacob over to a stool. "Sit there, let me tidy this up." She pulled out scissors and a comb and began snipping away at top speed.

"I'll call Billy, let him know you're ok," Sam said, going to the phone. Afterwards, he called Jared and Embry, instructing them to come over on Saturday morning rather than wait until Sunday since we had now become five.

"What are we going to be doing?" I asked him when he finished calling everyone.

"Training. We're going to have to start a regular patrol. The Cullens killed one of the creatures not too long ago. His two companions are back in the area. They're responsible for the recent killings we've all heard about on the news, but it seems they're also after someone in particular. Bella Swan."

"Shit!" exclaimed Jacob. "Why her?"

"Because she's the Cullens' pet. The Cullens killed one of these three nomads to protect her. The two remaining are Laurent and Victoria. The female is the more dangerous. The one they killed was her mate and she's after revenge as well as wanting Bella."

"Seems like I caught up to you guys just in time, then," Jacob said.

He stayed with me that night, as he usually did at the weekends. We went to my room fairly early, eager to get our hands on each other and I switched on the television to mask the sounds. We tried something new, fueled by our phasing earlier; Jacob crouching on hands and knees in the middle of my bed while I kneeled behind him, holding onto his hips with both hands and pounding myself vigorously into him.

Afterwards we lay panting, holding each other, then talking long into the night about what lay ahead of us - danger, excitement and possibly death on both sides. I knew if it came to it I would put myself in between him and the vampires, even if it meant them finishing me. Since I Imprinted on him I was fiercely protective. Tom and Bobbie had been nothing really, easily driven away when I turned on them. The vampires - Laurent and Victoria - would be another matter, but I would do everything in my power to keep Jacob safe, however strong and capable of fighting he was.

Jared and Embry arrived at eight in the morning and shared the cooked breakfast that Emily prepared for all of us. Both were keen to hear about Jacob's phasing and teased him for taking so long to catch up. Later, all of us went out to the woods and phased together. Annoyingly it was me that the others had to wait for. Sam and Jacob were the first two to transform, followed by Jared and then Embry. I was surprised by how quick Jacob did it this time and once again, struck by his stunning colour and looks. Too busy admiring him, I lost concentration and remained human for another couple of minutes. By the time I phased, the others were laughing.

"Hey, what took you so long?" Jared teased.

"Fuck off, I was just taking my time. Admiring Jacob. He looks amazing. I want to..."

"Jesus, Paul!" Jacob was laughing again. "I see what you mean about not being able to control your thoughts."

"I can't help it."

An image of me with Jacob, devouring him, unfastening his pants filled my head and I shoved it away immediately, mortified, hoping they hadn't all seen it. Unfortunately a split second was all it took and as soon as Jacob saw the picture in my head, it was in his too. He added to it by imagining me pushing him down onto the bed, lowering myself onto him.

"Please, stop thinking!" exclaimed Embry.

"Guys! Enough fooling about!" Sam's rumbling voice came into our heads. "This isn't a game."

"Sorry." I turned my eyes away from Jacob and looked at Sam instead - huge, black, menacing, his mind on the vampires. Instantly I pulled myself together.

We spent several hours in wolf form, travelling for miles, trying to pick up the scent of the bloodsuckers. There was nothing; at the moment they were nowhere near. We returned to where we had left our clothes and phased back. Once again I was last. I turned my back to the others.

"Don't look at him. The last thing you want is to phase back with a fucking hard-on." I thanked God they were all in human form already and didn't hear me. I didn't know what was the matter with me. We were in a serious situation and all I seemed to be capable of thinking about was sex.

A second later I was crouching on the ground, human, naked and...hard. Shit. At least I had turned away from them. I dragged my pants on quickly, shoved my feet into my shoes and my hands into my pockets before I turned around. Sam, Jared and Embry had already begun to walk back to the house and luckily didn't notice anything.

"Jesus, I don't know what's wrong with me," I muttered as Jacob and I followed at a distance.

"My beautiful wolf just makes you horny," Jacob sniggered.

"You make me horny, whatever form you're in."

"We can still hear you!" Embry shouted over his shoulder.

Jacob laughed some more. He seemed to be in high spirits again now that he had finally phased and got over the worry of it taking him by surprise.

We spent the next day doing more or less the same thing as we had on Saturday and then Jacob, Jared and Embry went back to school on Monday. No one really worried that Jacob might get in trouble there. He seemed to have incredible control already, even phasing mid-run on Sunday afternoon. One moment he had been sprinting towards the woods wearing cut-offs and sneakers and the next he was a bounding wolf, his pants having exploded off him. He didn't break his stride even for a second and I was in awe. I doubted I would ever be able to do that, however much I practised. I would probably fall flat on my face if I managed it at all.

It was a week later that Laurent came back. It was Saturday morning and we were hanging out around the picnic table behind the house. Sam sensed the vampire was nearby and we all rose as one from the table.

"He's close. Go." Sam began to run towards the trees, the rest of us on his heels. He phased before he reached the woods, Jacob and Jared right with him.

"Fuck," I muttered. "I have to learn to do this."

I carried on running with Embry, imagining that Jacob was some way ahead of me, being attacked, needing my help and that I was in my wolf form running to him. I had to close my eyes for a second to force myself into it and I phased just as Embry did. I opened my eyes again right before I smashed into a tree trunk and the impact bowled me over.

"Hell, Paul, you're so clumsy!"

I heard Embry's laugh and I scrambled up and shot after him, snarling. Now I was pissed and I flew past him, quickly catching up with the others. I immediately began to smell something; an awful stench like death making my nostrils twitch and my throat burn.

"What the hell is that stink?" I aimed at Sam.

"It's Laurent."

"That's what they smell like?"

"They're dead, Paul, what do you expect them to smell like?"

Suddenly he stopped running and halted right in front of me. I only just managed to avoid running into him and making myself look even more of a fool. I took a step forward, bringing me between him and Jacob. We were on the edge of a large clearing.

"Bella," Jacob's voice said.

She was in the middle of the opening, apparently about to be devoured by Laurent. He was dark skinned, wearing his hair in long dreadlocks and the smell of him threatened to make me vomit.

"Go!" Sam bounded clear of the trees and I followed with Embry beside me.

Laurent sprang away from Bella and began to run, then turned suddenly, throwing his arm out and slamming it into Sam as he pounced. I paused briefly as Sam's body twisted in the air and was thrown backwards, landing on his side on the ground. He leaped up again and made another run at the vampire, the rest of us now with him. We pursued the creature into the trees and then Sam and Jared broke away, diving down a path and looping back, cutting off Laurent's escape route. He halted and I found myself just feet away from him. I wondered briefly if he would taste as bad as he smelled and then I pounced.

My teeth sank into his arm and I was stunned by the hardness of his flesh. Sam had said they were like stone. I tore at him as Sam pinned him to the ground, his paws on the vampire's shoulders while Jared ripped the other arm from the body. From the corner of my eye I noticed a flash of russet as Jacob reached us and then he was on the fallen creature, lips peeled back from his teeth as he lunged forward and sank them into Laurent's throat, tearing it out.

Somehow I hadn't expected Jacob to be like that. He was usually so sweet and gentle and yet in wolf form, suddenly he was violent, efficient and he didn't hesitate. I backed off, part of a severed arm hanging from my jaws, watching him with complete awe and respect. It crossed my mind that if he hadn't turned it down, he would make a powerful leader.

He backed off from Laurent now, shaking himself and met my eyes, showing his teeth in a grin as opposed to a snarl.

Sam finished the job. The vampire was dead, but it wouldn't be completely over until the head was severed from the body. Sam opened his jaws, clamped them onto Laurent's head and wrenched it free, then tossed it into the undergrowth behind him.

"We're done here." He began to trot back the way we had come, skirting the clearing now.

"What about Bella?" It was Jacob's voice.

"She'll be fine. We can do nothing like this. Call her when we get home."

"What if the other one's around?" Embry asked, referring to Victoria.

"She's not. We'd smell her."

Sam broke into a run and the rest of us followed on his heels until we reached the house. All of us had phased in our clothes and we waited outside while he changed back, ran into the house and brought out an armful of jeans, mostly mine. My Christmas gift was proving useful already.