Chapter 34 Alarm

Cathryn's POV

There is a long, long list of things you can go through with somebody you hate and come out of it still hating them just as much, if not more, as you had to begin with. However, recovering from assault is apparently not one of them. Ever since Renesmee and I had had that little conversation at her house, we had begun to be friends. She had started hanging out at Dowling's when Jacob was teaching me to drive. She'd sit in the backseat, surprisingly fun to be around. She teased me right along with Jacob whenever I messed up. And I came to realize that she was, actually, a decent person.

Not that I hadn't been right about most of my assumptions about her. She was spoiled. Nobody that I knew of had ever disliked her at all. She was also competitive and sensitive almost as impatient as me. But she was also protective and sweet and by far the smartest person I had ever met. We came to be friends.

It was mid-June, and Keilly and Leslie and I were all going over to the Cullen's for a sleepover at Nessie's. It was my impression that this wasn't something that she had ever done before, and that, put together with her billions of dollars, meant that it was going to have the works. Not that I wouldn't have come were it not for that, but it was definitely a perk.

Keilly-having just gotten her license and therefore mental to drive as much as possible-picked up Leslie and I and took us over there. When we arrived, I knew right away that something was up. For one thing, the house was completely empty except for Rosalie and Alice, both standing at the center of the living room with determined expressions on their faces, and Renesmee, hovering beside then and blushing a deep scarlet.

"Hey." I said, a little wary. "What's up?"

"I'm sorry," Nessie said immediately. "I tried to stop them, I swear."

Alice sent her a scornful look. "You," She proclaimed, "Are just like your mother."

Leslie and Leilly and I exchanged bemused glances. "What-" Keilly started, before being interrupted by Rosalie.

"Alice did not have much of a human life." She said. "She was unstoppable when she saw the sleepover."

I didn't bother asking what she meant by 'saw'. Renesmee had told me-well, showed, really, with that creepy talent of hers-about all of her family's little gifts.

"The kitchen is stocked with chocolate." Alice told us, beaming. "As it's, you know, the only human food that Nessie actually enjoys. And we ARE going shopping, I don't care what you do to stop us." She sent both Renesmee and I warning looks as she said this, knowing that we would be the more reluctant participants in that. "Preferably in LA-"

"Alice!" Renesmee looked shocked, and a little angry. "Seattle, Alice. Some of us need sleep."

"Fine," Alice grumbled. "Shopping in Seattle, then. But they don't have anywhere near the best clothes. Anyway," She continues, brightening. "This place is completely stocked with DVD's, Rosalie and I have picked out the ones that we will be watching. A perfect mix of Romance," She gave Keilly a pointed look. "And horror." Here, she looked at me again.

"Great!" Keilly smiled.

"Guys," I said, horrified, as I examined myself in the mirror. "You aren't serious."

I had to hand it to Alice. She had managed to get me into the mall. And into Forever 21. And into the dressing rooms. All without picking me up and carrying me there using her inhuman strength and speed. But this. This was where I drew the line. I was in a skirt, okay? A skirt. And not the kind that you have to have a few of, for, you know, church and funerals and stuff, but the kind that people actually wear for fun. It was a denim skirt frayed edges that was at least three inches higher than dress code.

And Rosalie, Alice, Renesmee, Keilly, and Leslie actually expected me to get it.

"It looks really good on you, Cat." Nessie said. But I didn't pay too much attention to this. She was about as into clothes as I was, and had been saying virtually the same thing to whatever anybody had on all night. Even if it was hideous.

"You have such great legs." Keilly said enviously.

Leslie looked pleased with herself. Were it not for her motivational speeches and itunes gift cards, I wouldn't be jogging, and therefore I would have fat legs. So I couldn't brush Keilly's compliment off, because if I did it would be insulting Leslie.

I turned around in the mirror, examining behnd. Ugh, ugh, ugh. "I am not paying for this.

"You aren't paying for anything." Alice reminded me. "This is all going onto my American Express."

I'm as much for free stuff as anybody, but this was just a bit much. The skirt was eighty dollars. And I had already bought a pair of pink skinny jeans, six pairs of earings, and a pair of converse. See, what had happened was, I just had the converse when we first went to the checkout line. But while we were waiting there, leslie saw these shorts that she just had to have. Bit then she wasn't sure which size fit her best, so we all had to loose our place and go with her to the dressing rooms. And on the way there, I stopped to admire the skinny jeans. That was all. Just admire. Not buy. But Alice saw me, and, before I knerw it, I was in the dressing room right next to Leslie, trying them on.

About ten minutes later, we decided that we really were done. But this time, Renesmee saw this rack of scarves that she really wanted to check out. And it was so rare for her to show any enthusiasm for clothes, what choice did we have but to go over there and help her pick one out? And right next to the scarves was an earing display.

You can guess what happened next.

All my stuff put together equaled about two hundred dollars. When I found that out, I tried to put something back, or at least pay for them myself. But the Cullens, as well as abazillion dollars, seemed to have been cursed with chronic generosity. It was like in Japan, or those tiny little African tries. If you don't take what they give you, it insults them.

"Hey, you guys." Keilly had, in the three seconds since I'd last looked at her, changed shirts. This one sparkly purple and blue tye dye that braught out her eyes. It also made her boobs look huge and her waist look tiny. She looked really pretty.

Unlike me.

"Get it." I commanded, squirming out of the skirt.

"Uh-uh." Keilly crossed her arms. "Not unless you get that skirt."

Whatever happened to Hot Topic? I mean, really. Now, more than ever, I missed the ten dollar T-shirs and shredded jeans. They would never be selling an eighty dollar skank skirt.

I sent Keilly a pleading look. "Must I?"

"You must."

"Ugh. Fine. Here." I shoved the article at Rosalie, who was grinning triumphantly.

"You know," She said slyly. "You could really use a shirt to go with that."

And this was where I drew the line. "No." I backed away from then, leaning against the mirror. I was seriously considering making a cross with my fingers and holding it ion front of my face in protection. Warding off evil shoppers. "I will not. Its been like two hours. I think we've been here long enough, don't you Ness?"

She nodded gratefully, and, without a word, gathered all the clothes in her hands and went to the checkout line. For the fourth time.

Alice watched her ruefully. Then she turned to me. "You should have gotten it." She informed me.

"I wouldn't have worn it." I retorted.

"But I would have taken you to the bathroom, where I would have made you change into them. And then, on our way out, we would pass by here again. And you would have looked that much cuter," She continued, pointing out the doors and across the way, where the sporting goods store was. "When he asked you out."

There, just the leaving the store, was Ethan. He had changed in the year since I had last seen him, that day at Emily's. Or, you know, the year since I had last noticed him. Now though, he looked even cuter. He had let his dark spikes grow into waves around his face, making his brown eyes look mysterious and penetrating. He was also a good three inches taller, and a bit brauder as well. When he aw me, he waved.

"Cat," He called. "C'mere."

I looked at Alice. "What, you honestly need help with this part? Humans, I swear. Go." She gave me what I think was meant to be a gentle push in his direction. I stumbled, but thankfully recovered quickly, striding up to him in what I hoped was an indifferent manner.

"Hey, Ethan," I said smiling.

"Hey," he grinned back, revealing a set of pearly whites. "I haven't seen you since school let out."

"Yeah, I know. I've been really busy." I lied.

He nodded. "You still going out with that Hart guy?"

"Oh, no." I said quickly. "We broke up months ago."

"Good. I didn't like him too much. He wasn't good for you." He looked sincere, too, not like he was just saying that because I was no single. But like he'd really been worried about me.

"So, you said you were busy?" he asked.

I nodded uncertainly. God, why had I gone over here? I had zero experience flirting. Where was he going with this? And why did I never feel this akward with Embry, whom I was about three million times more attracted to than this guy, yet never got toungue-tied around? I made the mistake of glancing behind me, and saw Alice, Rosalie, Renesmee, Keilly, and Leslie all hovering around the entrance of Forever 21, watching us like hawks.

Friends sometimes can be such idiots.

"Well I hope you can find time to go out with me Friday night." Ethan said. "There's a new movie out, I thought maybe we could…." He let the thought trail off.

"Like as friends?" I fished, trying to get some sort of clarification.

"Not really." Now he was starting to look uncomfortable. "But if you wanted…"

"No. It's a date." I smiled.

Ethan smiled back. "I'll pick you up at seven."

"Yeah. Bye." I spent the short walk back to Forever 21 trying to restart my heart. Dating took so much out of people, I honestly didn't know why we bothered.

I expected my friends to all be ecstatic. I mean, it wasn't like I had much experience in the department, but I had always thought that when a cute guy asked you out, your friends were like obligated to make a huge fuss over it. However, when I reached them, the only one that seemed in the least bit exited was Rosalie.

"That's my girl," She beamed, giving my shoulder a comforting squeeze. Of course she would have been a maneater back in her human days.

This was not my usual dream. I knew that much. For one thing, my puppy hadn't started out as a puppy. And I wasn't a little kid. I was me, and my puppy was a wolf. And we were still in Gainsville. Also, he wasn't running. For the first time, he was still, looking at me with intelligent but unreadable eyes. He was even more beautiful up close than he had been when I was trying to get close to him. Yes, I know how stupid that sounds. How could a beast be beautiful? And I guess logically he wasn't. Powerful, strong, his coat was clean. But that didn't make him beautiful. However, that was what I thought of him as.

My unreasonable yearning for him hadn't lessened in the months since I'd last had the dream. I still wanted him, still needed him. But something felt wrong. I felt some kind of fear. For the wolf more than me. Fear of what, I had no idea. But it kept me from reaching out to him.

My wolf leaned forward, letting out a small whine. I felt a rush of warmth as I realized that he wanted me. Again, for reasons that I could not fathom, this seemed beyond my wildest dreams. Well, not dreams, since technically I was in one. But beyond my wildest fantasies. More than anything I could ever wish for.

My wolf took a small step forward.

I forgot about my gut feeling, that tiny voice telling me not to touch him. I reached out to him, fingers outstretched, until they came in contact with the top of his head. His fur was thick, rough. It felt better than anything I'd ever touched before. My wolf pressed upward towards my hand, leaning in to my touch. He needed this too. And, for those peaceful three seconds, everything was perfect. I didn't feel the fear anymore. No desire, no obligations. I had him, and that was all that mattered.

But then the three seconds was over, and the scene changed drastically.

The grass under our feet grew, stretched and twisted. It intertwined itself around me, pulling me away from my wolf. And as soon as I stopped touching him, the fear was back. Only it was about twenty times stronger. The grass thickened, wrapped all around me, growing huge thorns and cutting into my skin. I saw blood seeping through my cloths, running down my arms, but I didn't feel the wounds. I only pad attention to my wolf.

But of course that had changed as well.

His fur changed, turning brown and then disappearing completely, leaving only copper skin. The hind legs lengthened, became more muscled, then straightened up. The front legs did the came before falling limply at his sides. The claws, the paws vanished as well, leaving fingers and toes on hands and feet. He grew new fur, but this was only on his head. It was black and shaggy, and stopped after a few inches. The only thing that stayed the same was his eyes.

Embry struggled, putting up a much better fight than I had. But like I was with him, his eyes stayed firmly on my face. He was much more worried about my safety than his own. "Cathryn, run!" He yelled hoarsely, desperately. "Get outta here!"

Then, all at once, he stopped trying to get away, stopped trying to get to me. His yes, for the first time, broke away from me and traveled past me, to something behind me. His lips opened slightly, forming a silent scream. The agony, the hurt on his features was something I couldn't even begin to comprehend. I just knew that it was there, that it was hurting him and that it had to be stopped.

I squirmed, twisting my entire body trying to get to him. But I couldn't.

And that was when I realized that it wasn't a plant holding me anymore. I turned, and came face to face with Ethan. His mouth was spread wide in an evil grin, his grip much stronger than I ever would have thought it could be. "You can't save him, Cat." He whispered. "You belong to me now." He spun me around harshly, just in time for me to see Embry crumble, falling forward to his knees in anguish.

"No!" I screamed, bolting upright in a sheen of sweat.. But I didn't stop there. I kept screaming, getting louder and more desperate as they built into hysteria. I couldn't quiet them. All the fear was still there, all the horror.

"Kaaah..Cat?" Renesmee sat up groggily, rubbing her eyes. Leslie and Keilly had woken up, too. They crowded around me, trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Alice! Rose!" Nessie called over her shoulder.

"Shh, shhh." Keilly, bless her, was best in this situation. She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into her, quieting my yells as they turned into sobs.

"Embry…" I whispered, shaking. "He-"

"It was just a bad dream, Cat. Not real." Rose interrupted, cross at the mention of a werewolf. Alice gave her a warning look as she reached out and stroked my hair.

"What happened, Cat?" Leslie's brow furrowed.

Fortunately, this was when I got a hold on myself. It took me a second to stop the waterworks, but I managed. " It's fine," I said softly, pulling away from Keilly. "I'm fine."

The others didn't look convinced.

But really, who could blame them? I had woken up at….I glanced behind me, looking through the glass. I had woken up at the very crack of daw despite the fact that I had fallen asleep only two hours ago tops, screaming and shaking and crying out the name of my twenty year old chauffer. I shook my head, trying to clear it.

And that was when I remembered.

The animal, the beast I had been dreaming about, been wanting for so long. The thing I wanted, needed, reached out for when I was hurting over Hart, was a wolf. A wolf who had recently decided to change into a human. A human that belonged to a pack of shapeshifters.

The person I'd been dreaming about, the person I had been needing for all this time…was Embry.