Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, items, products etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original character and plot are mine. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise, products or locations (They ARE NOT MINE). No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Five

My steps crunched loudly on the gravel of our driveway as I retreated from the porch. The foreboding silence from within the house had morphed into heated whispers by the time I reached Jacob's side. Whatever drama was going on between my twin and Jacob could be dealt with tomorrow. The only thing I wanted to do was be with Jacob, and I really wanted to touch him.

Jacob had stopped to wait for me at the end of the driveway. His confidence appeared to have deflated since leaving the living room, and his arms hung limp at his sides. I paused when I reached him –not knowing what to do. We hadn't even been introduced, and I had known him all of two minutes, but all I wanted to do was force my hand into his. I was desperate for some sort of physical contact with him. Ugh. What had gotten into me? This was stupid. I was acting like a complete teenager. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath to reorganize my thoughts. It didn't help –Jacob smelled really amazing.

His husky voice eventually pulled me back to reality.

"Cassie? Can I…umm…maybe hold your hand? If you don't mind…" Jacob's mumbled question surprised me, and my eyes shot open. He seemed to be just as unsure. Was he feeling this too?

Without giving a thought to saying no, I slipped my hand into his huge, overly-warm one. My body relaxed immediately; this was where I needed to be. This was right; Jacob was mine. Mine? Never in my life had holding hands felt so vital, so crucial to my very existence.

"Are you always this effective in wooing the girls?" My mentally posed question became audible completely unbidden. Once I had a brain to mouth filter, really I did. Ugh.

Jacob gave a little nervous laugh. "Umm, well...this has never actually happened to me…personally… I really had no idea how strong it would be…" He trailed off like he planned on saying more but decided against it. What was he rambling about? Surely a guy as gorgeous as Jacob was used to having girls swoon and lust over him. I was totally swooning over him, and lust was most definitely included in my current emotional predicament. Was he lying to me? Surely, he had women fall all over themselves to get his attention before, there was no way I was the first.

"I find that hard to believe…" I cut myself off. Jacob didn't need to know how attracted I was to him, so a subject change was in order. "Just so you know this isn't like me… I don't usually wander off into the dark with a strange guy."

Granted, Jacob wasn't just some random guy. He was my twin brother's indescribably attractive best friend, but it was very important he know this wasn't the norm for me. I desperately wanted Jacob to like me.

Jacob squeezed my hand gently. "I'm glad you came out here with me." Every ounce of my being agreed with his statement.

The moonlight reflected off Jacob's perfectly straight, white teeth when he gave me a small smile, and I found myself looking at his mouth again. Before I stumbled, I had to yank my eyes back to the road in front of me.

We walked in silence for a few minutes, but it was far from awkward. I found my focus had shifted yet again from my feet to Jacob –his breathing, his footsteps, just him. His warmth was spreading up my body from our connected hands, and I found myself attempting to covertly lean towards him. He wasn't oblivious to my movement, and I felt him watching me out of the corner of his eye. My blush was sure to betray me if I caught his gaze, so I forced myself to focus on the approaching sounds of the ocean.

"So… umm… you've been out of town, right? How was your trip?" If I was going to continue to drool over Jacob Black, I should probably attempt to get to know him. Plus, I really wanted to hear him speak again.

"Oh… I, umm… Yeah. I was gone for a few weeks. I had some shit… uh, sorry –stuff … I needed to get figured out, away from here and… yeah. Overall it was fine… I've needed to get out of here for awhile."

Jacob was quiet as we neared the beach, and his answer hung heavy in the air. He apparently had problems like any normal person. Somehow that was comforting; it was one more thing that appealed to me. He wasn't as perfect as he looked, and he was being real and honest.

The sea was beautiful and calm as it gently raked over the sand. The full moon reflected off of the waves, making the gray sand appear almost iridescent.

"Were you running away from drama or do you just not like it here?" Digging out the past and throwing it on the table was a stellar start to a new relationship, right?

I felt Jacob's hand tense. Whoops. Maybe bringing up past drama wasn't the best idea. He surprised me by laughing. It was another thing I could add to the list of things Jacob did to make my knees go weak. His laughter was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever heard.

"You don't beat around the bush do you?" He grinned at me, and I smiled back at him.

"I learned long ago that playing games just wastes a lot of time; we only have one life to live. What you see is what you get with me. Sorry to pry, though. It's none of my business…" I trailed off and looked back out at the ocean as we continued to walk.

"It's a nice change…" Jacob paused as he organized his thoughts. "I was running away from drama. You're right. It was crap I couldn't seem to get rid of otherwise... Had I known you were here waiting for me, I would have come home a lot sooner." He squeezed my hand again before continuing, "You were the perspective I was missing."

Wow. Umm…That wasn't what I had been expecting. I didn't know what to say; I wasn't even sure how to process what he had just said. Jacob sensed my confusion and immediately changed the subject.

"So, Cassie, how do you like La Push?" he asked.

Jacob unconsciously pulled me closer to his warm body as I failed to conceal a shiver. He wrapped his huge arm around my waist and placed his thumb in the front pocket of my jeans. I heard him inhale; he had just sniffed me, and somehow that didn't seem at all weird. I had been savoring Jacob's scent myself –pine, earth, and delicious male. I had never enjoyed breathing through my nose more.

Jacob cleared his throat and bought me out of my thoughts. He had asked me a question.

"Oh. Umm. I really like it here, actually. It's the polar opposite of San Francisco, but that isn't so bad. The ocean and the forest are so beautiful here, I think I could be happy here," I said as I gestured to the water and woods around us.

"Well, that's really good… I mean, I know how happy you've made Embry and Sam by being here. Embry told me you've been hanging out with Leah…"

"Oh yeah. We get along really well. She was actually who I was shopping with today." Jacob's mouth quirked up into a half smile and he raised one of his eyebrows; I guess the image of Leah shopping was amusing to him, and I wondered why.

"That's good. Leah has been stuck hanging out with us guys for a long time. She and Emily used to be close, but they had a falling out," Jacob said as we approached the end of beach.

A falling out, I'd bet. The whole Sam fiasco had probably crippled their friendship beyond repair.

A driftwood log lay haphazardly on the beach in front of us, so not wanting to turn around or climb over it, I sat down. Jacob sat next to me and tucked me into his side. He was so warm and perfect; I could comfortably lay my head on his muscled shoulder without giving myself a kink in my neck. That hadn't ever happened before.

"Do you know why your mom put you up for adoption and kept Embry?" Jacob asked quietly after several moments. My heart didn't ache quite as much as it used to thinking about how easily my mother had given me up. Mentally I wasn't as prepared as I had been during the conversations with my brothers; obviously I hadn't planned on telling my life story to a smoking-hot stranger today.

I paused before I answered him. "I didn't know about Embry until recently, but my parents told me Meredith just didn't want the responsibility. If my parents had known she was having twins they would have tried to adopt Em too. I'm not sure exactly how that process worked… Maybe Meredith kept Embry out of guilt because she was giving me up. Maybe she didn't want the sigma, and it sounded like she only told people she was having one kid. Who knows? We can't exactly ask her."

"I could believe that; Meredith wasn't exactly an upstanding citizen. But why did you keep the last name of someone who willingly gave you up?" Jacob asked, and I felt his breath in my hair as he rested his cheek on my head.

"I thought about changing my last name when I turned eighteen. Morgan, which was my adopted parent's last name, is my middle name. It was important to my parents that I knew where I came from, and like it or not, it's a part of who I am. It took me a while to mature enough to appreciate them wanting me to know my heritage," I said as I traced his fingers with mine.

"Cassandra Morgan Call. I could get used to saying that," Jacob whispered into my hair. And boy, would I love to get used to hearing him say that. I had never thought of my name as anything special, but my opinion had suddenly changed solely based on hearing it reverently spoken by a near stranger.

It was wonderful and perfect being there in his arms, watching the ocean. All of the planets were aligned and everything was right in the world. And I'm totally not one to be overly dramatic.

We easily fell into the most natural conversation that I had ever had with a stranger; a stranger with who I was very comfortable snuggled into. Jacob's passion when he talked about his shop and his work was almost tangible. He took his role as a mentor very seriously and was very proud of the new wing of the Rez school he and the pack had been helping to build.

Jacob asked questions like he wanted to learn everything about me tonight; questions about my favorite color, food, and place all the way to my first kiss and my hobbies. I could see why everyone had such nice things to say about him. Jacob's interest made me feel unbelievably special and lucky. It had been a long time since I had felt like that. My brain, which had become marginally clearer, had a hard time as it attempted to grasp why this god-like man would show this amount of interest in me.

We had been sitting in silence for several minutes when Jacob asked, "How much do you know about our people's history and legends, Cassie?"

Jacob's sudden question seemed to come out of left field and caught me off guard. Obviously his train of thought had not been following mine over the last few minutes. My mind had been very focused on the wonderful warmth radiating off Jacob's naked torso and his strong arm wrapped snuggly around me.

"Umm… well, I did some research before showing up, and Embry's told me a few things here and there." I couldn't stifle the huge yawn that followed my statement.

Jacob gently squeezed me and took a deep breath before he spoke again. "Do you know the legend on how our ancestors descended from wolves?"

I just nodded letting my head fall back to rest on his shoulder. Embry had mentioned our ancestors originally settled here as animals, but then the Raven changed them into people so they could live here permanently. My thoughts fizzled out as my eye lids drooped slowly closed. I inhaled deeply through my nose and noted yet again how delicious Jacob smelled. His strong chest rose and fell under my cheek as he took several breaths before continuing.

"Well… it's said that our ancestors were given the ability to change into wolves when necessary to protect our people from our enemies…the Cold Ones –blood drinkers…"

I opened my eyes and blinked. Where was he going with this? "Okaay… like werewolves and vampires?"

"Yeah, exactly. Except our people could change into werewolves whenever their protection was needed not just under a full moon," Jacob answered. Huh, okay. That shot down my theory he was going to tell me a scary werewolf story because we were under the full moon.

"Ummm… okay, that's cool. It would be a pretty neat trick to be able to turn into a wolf at will." Another yawn stifled my giggle. I felt Jacob's body tense briefly next to mine before he cleared his throat quietly and unwrapped his arm from my waist so he could stand up. Jacob's warmth was immediately missed; apparently, I had not noticed the huge drop in temperature.

"Let's get you home, Cassie. It's late." He held his hand out to me; his small smile looked forced onto his beautiful face. Even after I analyzed the last few minutes of our conversation and I couldn't figure what had upset him.

I had no idea how much time had passed, but I was suddenly very tired. The time lapse was made very clear when I did finally stand up. My stiff muscles reaffirmed the fact that I hadn't moved for hours, as they groaned in protest. We began to walk back toward the house, and I shivered violently before he could pull me back against him.

"Aren't you freezing? It's not exactly warm out tonight," I asked through almost chattering teeth, as we reached the parking lot.

"Ah…no … some of us are lucky and got the high metabolism, high body temperature gene; it comes free with the rest of our predestined powers," Jacob said; his voice sounded serious but he winked at me, making me smile.

"Your predestined powers, huh?" I couldn't help it –I rolled my eyes. "I won't complain, so far your high body temperature has been nothing but an asset."

My smile remained plastered on my face as I tucked myself back into his burning hot torso. It's too bad Embry and I couldn't have shared this genetic trait…but then again if we had, I wouldn't be smashed into Jacob's chest right now. It was weird though; everyone I had met so far here had that gene, apparently. Well I guess that wasn't true… none of the girls had it –except Leah. So, maybe it was a pack thing? That made it more bizarre that all of the genetic freaks would work together…Jacob spoke, ripping my thoughts off course.

"Just wait until the summer. You might change your mind about my body temperature," Jacob said, squeezing my body closer to his. I really liked the idea of being with him in the summer; that was a few months from now. My face had begun to hurt, I had smiled so much.

"So, what other powers do you strange pack people have besides you're body temperature and eating habits? Next you'll be telling me you're actually a pack of werewolves!" I said jokingly, but Jacob didn't immediately answer which made me nervous.

I rushed to continue, "I'm just kidding, you know…and I don't really believe the werewolf legends … I mean they're really interesting stories, but stuff like that isn't real…I'm not that gullible…" I trailed off, trying to dig myself out of what ever hole I had just thrown myself into.

Jacob was silent for a few more moments, which allowed all of my self doubt to creep in and take root. What had I said?

He finally spoke, with deep conviction, "Some of our interesting stories have some truth in them, Cassie."

"Right, of course." If believing the old stories was important to Jacob, I would believe them with all my heart. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound condescending… it's my history too." Please, let this not be a big deal. I crossed my fingers in my other hand before I looked up at him. Jacob had his panty-dropping grin on again, so I fluttered my eyelashes and gave him what I hoped was a sexy smile. His eyes widened before his smile grew, flashing his perfect teeth, I was completely forgiven for my inadvertent faux pas.

We got to my front door far too quickly, and judging from how quiet it was inside, Embry and Quil had already gone in to work. I warred with myself whether to ask Jacob to come inside or not. It was different with Jacob; not that we would do anything, but I didn't want him to leave. The thought of Jacob in my room, plus he was already half naked…

Jacob cleared his throat, which brought me quickly out of my thoughts but not before I had blushed crimson. How embarrassing! He gave me a lopsided smirk, and reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. I shivered as Jacob's fingers gently traced the piercings in the shell of my ear before they fell to my neck. His hand froze, which caused my half lidded eyes to pop open to meet his intense gaze. Jacob's expression was conflicted, confused, like he was waging some silent battle with himself. I watched his Adams apple bob as he swallowed and his eyes drifted slowly, as if he was memorizing every inch of my face, down to my lips. My breath hitched, and my own eyes seemed to travel of their own accord down to his perfectly full lips. I watched as his mouth opened slightly and his pink tongue snuck out and ran over his bottom lip. His warm fingers slowly glided up along my collar bone before they wove their way through the hair at the base of my neck. Jacob pulled me closer to him, and I would have sworn I heard him growl but all rational thought vanished from my head as his warm, soft lips crashed into mine.

It didn't faze me that I was kissing someone I barely knew. All I could think about is how wonderful he tasted, and how warm and strong his body felt pressed completely against mine. Wanting to be closer still, I pressed further into him –a weaker man would have stumbled back with the force of my movement, but Jacob didn't budge an inch. My hands trailed up his muscular back until they reached his hair. His gorgeous short satiny hair. Now I was sure Jacob was growling –I felt his chest rumble against me– and it gave me a brilliant shot of confidence. I traced my tongue over his bottom lip and he granted me full access to his delicious mouth. Oh God! It was heaven! The way he tasted, his extra-warm body, his hair, his hands in my hair –was just WOW. If I had died right then I would have been happy, but as it was, I could feel myself getting lightheaded from lack of oxygen. All life-altering moments have to come to an end –If you have never had a life altering kiss, I would highly recommend it. It was the perfect moment, and I hadn't believed in perfect moments until then.

Jacob gently pulled away and I gasped, filling my lungs with necessary air. He didn't let me step back but hugged me flush against his hard chest; his overly warm body now felt like it was on fire and I desperately wanted to melt into it. My breathing eventually slowed and I just savored the feeling of Jacob's body against my hands as I drug my fingers over his back, shoulders and neck.

"I've never kissed anyone with a tongue ring before," Jacob's husky voice whispered in my ear, sending a wave of electricity down to my toes.

"Did you like it?" I asked shakily.

"Very much so…" Jacob sighed before he carefully pried my body away from his. "Can I see you tomorrow? There are some things you need to know about me, and if you still want to see me … we'll go from there. Okay?" Jacob seemed nervous as he chewed on his lip and refused to meet my eyes.

"Of course! I'm really looking forward to it!" I replied before his words sunk in.

When they finally did, I brought my thumb up to my mouth and chewed on my nail as I thought out loud, "What's wrong? You're not with someone else are you?" I met his gaze with mine, and my stomach lurched; I was terrified to face that kind of rejection again. So many emotions flickered across his face I couldn't catch them all, but then he gave me a half smile. Thank God! Relief flooded into my soul.

"No, I'm not 'with' anyone." Jacob paused and stroked my bottom lip with his thumb, but his tone was still serious. "It's just weird and complicated. Don't worry about it; we'll talk about it tomorrow, okay?" He leaned over to plant a chaste kiss on my lips before he pulled away completely.

"Okay." Was all I could say, as my arms wilted to my sides. Jacob slowly turned and vanished into the woods. I didn't know how long I stood out on the porch staring into the dark, but my involuntary shiver brought me back to reality. After I tore my eyes off the trees, I let myself into the house.

Embry had left me a note on the kitchen counter:

Sis-

I hope you're not freaking out; we're all in this together. If you want, we can talk in the morning.

I am happy for you, you know. Really.

I'll be home around six. –Em

What the blazes was he talking about? What the hell was going on? Seriously, Jacob and I had an awesome few hours, then he gets all weird after talking about the werewolves, and then Embry leaves a cryptic note. Ugh! Men! I crumpled Embry's note and threw it in the trash. The oven's clock caught my attention, and I stared at it blankly as it announced that it was after 1am. No wonder I was exhausted. My shower was a blur and I didn't even remember crawling into bed.

That night I dreamed about full moons, wolves walking on two legs, and Jacob. Jacob was always there but I couldn't even get to him. He was always just out of my grasp. Jacob was talking to me, trying to explain something really important, but I couldn't hear him. The wolves wouldn't stop howling; they were so loud I slammed my hands over my ears.

I sat bolt upright in bed, my hands still over my ears; the last howl had been so close it sounded genuine. I lay perfectly still for several minutes before I heard it again. Somewhere close, a real life wolf howled. My attempt to jump out of bed and get to my window ended abruptly as my legs tangled in the sheets. I flailed helplessly before I crashed loudly into Embry's weight set. Ow! Mother Fucker! After slowly disentangling myself, I hobbled to the window, but by the time I opened the blinds, there was nothing to see in the dim morning light but the vague outline of trees.

Damn it. I had been holding my arm gingerly from my run-in with the weights and it suddenly dawned on me it didn't just ache, it had become sticky. Awesome, I was bleeding.

I tried to tip toe to the bathroom so I didn't wake Embry, but his door was still open. That was weird; he was supposed to be home thirty minutes ago. After I entered the bathroom, I shook my head as I surveyed the damaged I had done to myself. The ugly cut was jagged and still dripping blood as I cleaned it. Luckily, I wasn't going to need stitches. Several band aids and a strip of gauze later, I shuffled back into my room.

The minutes dragged as I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling before I finally gave up on going back to sleep. Since I was awake, I figured I might as well be productive. In no time I had thrown on my yoga pants, t-shirt and running shoes, and wandered back into the bathroom. I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and then applied my vanilla-frosting flavored lip gloss. I couldn't help my smirk; I didn't usually put on lip gloss to work out. Jacob was still sleeping, but just in case… My impromptu bandage was still sticking to my arm even though the middle had turned a nice crimson. I'd have to change it when I got back.

I scrawled Embry a quick note, telling him I would be back to make breakfast around 7:30am. He would probably be wiped from whatever the hell was keeping him out past his shift. Embry could appreciate a little sugar before bedtime, maybe I would make cinnamon rolls. I smiled to myself as I safety pinned the key Embry gave me to my pants and headed out.

It seemed unusually foggy that morning; granted I hadn't become completely accustomed to this humidity-filled climate, but this fog seemed really thick, even for here. The moisture was visible as it hung in the trees and began to bead up on my skin as I ran towards the beach.

My side had started to cramp by the time I had reached the parking lot. I had been too preoccupied day dreaming of Jacob to concentrate on my breathing, so I slowed to a walk and locked my arms over my head.

Apparently I had been more oblivious to my surroundings than I thought. The normal soundtrack of the forest and ocean was now muffled by the dense fog, which had only thickened the further I had gotten from home. The eerie silence coupled with the creepy-thick fog seemed to be closing in and caused me to glance nervously around. Sheesh, was I what, five?

I could take care of myself. There are no monsters; I was tired and just being stupid. Even still, my pace picked back up to a jog and I turned to head back toward the house.

As I followed my tracks back down the beach, I heard a twig snap off to my right somewhere in what I assumed was the forest. Damn it. I squinted out into the fog, but I couldn't see anything but gray moisture; attempting to force yourself to be calm when you're freaking out was a feat I prided myself in having mastered. After a brief pause to refocus, I picked up my pace, but even my foot prints seemed to have disappeared.

As I took a deep breath to force myself to remain calm, my nose was assaulted with the most horrid sickly-sweet stench. It reeked just like that girl Bella had, but worse and far more potent. My stomach turned; whatever that horrible smell was coming from, it smelled really close. Bile was struggling to escape from my stomach, as I glanced furtively into the impenetrable fog. Why would Bella be here? Maybe she just really needed to talk to Jacob, and had decided to just show up. My brain wasn't buying my own rationalizations, and this was getting weird.

The sand showed no sign of my previous foot prints and I should have already reached the parking.

My wonderfully-colorful imagination kicked into overdrive. Had I just seen movement? The deceptive fog blanketed my senses, practically blinding me. I slowed to a walk –it wasn't productive if I was running in circles, just tiring myself out. After another few paces, I stopped and stood perfectly still; I tried to somehow mentally coerce my sense of direction into functioning so it could point me towards home.

My body seemed to feel it before I was consciously aware of it. Every one of my hairs suddenly stood on end in a vain attempt to prepare me for something I couldn't see. Whatever was out there –was real. My mind screamed at me to run, but that wasn't a rational thought, since I couldn't have seen which way to run. I was going to have to stay and fight. Right. I inhaled more of the reeking stench in my attempt to slow my breathing and heart rate, but I wasn't feeling very brave. How could I when I wasn't sure what I was afraid of?

"I know you're there! Show yourself!" I screamed into the fog, as I willed my voice not to betray me. A low masculine chuckle came from behind me, which caused me to flinch and whirl around, but nothing was there. It was still just me standing on the sand, surrounded by nothing but fog and the smell of sweet rotten decay.

"Stop toying with me, asshole! You're just a coward!" I yelled, but my voice cracked causing my courageous façade to crumble. But I wasn't going down without a fight, courage in place or not, so I balled my fists and brought them up to protect my face.

"I very well may be an asshole, but I'm defiantly not a coward. I just enjoy playing with my food," a soft male voice whispered in my ear from behind me.

I jumped in surprise but managed to throw an elbow backward into the person's abdomen. My elbow contacted what felt like granite and I yelped in pain. Going to plan "B" I attempted to drop my weight and run but two arms encircled my body and crushed me backwards.

Yanking my head forward, I planned on slamming it backward into my captor's face, but my momentum was halted by two white stone hands planted on either side of my face.

"Tk tsk tsk… I wouldn't do that if I were you, honey. It would do far more damage to you, my dear, than to him. And no one likes damaged goods."

A different male voice had spoken that time. Oh my God, there were two of them. My face was slowly forced upwards until I met an ominous blood-red gaze. My eyes widened as I absorbed his face; it was beautiful and faultless in every way. His platinum blond hair was perfectly styled, and his pale white skin seemed to have some underlying radiance beneath it. His crimson eyes stared back at me before his pale pink lips parted and he dragged his red tongue over his perfectly shaped brilliant white teeth. His grip intensified along my chin while he tucked a strand of loose hair back behind my ear.

When he touched me, an involuntary tremor shot down my spine. I was terrified. The stink seemed to be emanating from his breath –his very person. Just like Bella… Bella was cold and hard… I couldn't process what was going on. What was going on? The male holding my face drew me closer to him and wrenched my bandaged arm up to his nose before he inhaled deeply.

His red eyes turned black as he slowly peeled my bandage off, exposing my bloodied arm. He painfully squeezed my arm, which caused the wound to reopen and blood to seep out. A hiss escaped through his barred teeth and they suddenly looked very sharp.

Jacob's insistence that the old legends were true hit me like a freight train. The stupid story about our werewolf ancestors protecting our people from the Cold Ones wasn't nearly so amusing anymore –maybe it all was true.

These two granite creatures were vampires, and they wanted me to be their breakfast. I was so sorry I had laughed at Jacob's vampire and werewolf story!

I refused to be a meal for a vampire! Screw that. I took a deep breath and gathered as much saliva as I could into my mouth and then spit right into the vampire's pitch colored eyes. My legs lashed out in every direction as I struggled to escape the stone arms of my captor. The sharp pain on my legs confirmed I was at least hitting my targets. Could they even feel me kicking them?

"You bitch!" The vampire in front of me screamed. His hand circled my throat, and he jerked me upwards –right off of the ground. The granite arms of the other vampire, which had been holding me fast, let go as I was yanked skyward. My obstructed airway kept me from screaming. His grip had tightened around my throat and jaw causing them to groan under the pressure. I continued to kick my legs, but my strength was quickly waning. Black stars started to obstruct my vision as my oxygen started running out.

"Let her go, leech." A powerful male voice came out of the fog. I knew that voice.

Jacob? What was he doing here? I renewed my struggles, even if it was probably in vain. The vampire loosened his grip on my throat, and suddenly I became a sputtering heap in the sand. I gasped air into my burning and bruised throat while trying scramble away from the vampire. I was too slow. The vampire moved so quickly I didn't see him, but suddenly, I was back in his grasp, this time acting as a human shield pressed firmly against his cold, hard chest.

"Jacob!" I screamed, before a frozen granite hand clamped painfully over my mouth.

The vampire was backing away, which surprised me. I mean, Jacob was a big guy, but outnumbered and against vampires? I didn't know what chance he had. I could feel the vampire's head whipping around trying to see his adversary. My eyes moved too, desperately trying to see into the fog, praying that the other vampire hadn't already killed Jacob.

A deafening and long howl broke through the fog and caused my ears to ring. The wolf who had howled was really close –like right where Jacob's voice had just come from. What the hell? Why couldn't my brain compute? Jacob couldn't turn into a wolf. He was just a freaky-huge-sexy guy with weird genes…But could he possibly have some weird genetic ability to turn into a wolf? I had to be dreaming this was all insane.

The vampire's granite body began to shudder and shake against mine, before he suddenly turned and ran, giving me whiplash as he dragged me along with him.

I heard a loud snarl before the huge russet wolf appeared in front of us, which caused the vampire to bring us to an abrupt halt, and my head slammed back against his immovable chin –I saw stars. The wolf in front of us was huge, about the size of a horse, his head was held low, his ears were back, and he was prepared to pounce.

"I'll kill her! Don't come any closer!" The vampire squealed as the wolf began to slowly circle us. The wolf growled louder, which distracted the vampire who was holding me. I wasn't distracted however, I was very focused –everything was critical if I was going to live through this. The vampire's grip had loosened marginally just as my eyes met those of the wolf in front of me, and I immediately knew what I was supposed to do. My whole body went limp –becoming dead weight I dropped straight to the sand of the beach. Before I could completely flatten my body into the earth the brown wolf had leapt over my head and landed on the vampire's chest knocking him backward with a rush of wind. The ground shook with the force of their impact.

I crawled as fast as I could. Behind me the vampire's screams were matched with screeching and horrendous ripping of what I assumed was his body. I didn't turn around until I had planted my back up against a tree. The scene unfolding in front of me was so unbelievable and unreal; I couldn't tear my eyes away. The horror monsters in front of me were literally fighting to the death.

There were three wolves now, the russet one and two gray ones –one appeared to have black spots along its back. The wolves methodically ripped the vampire's limbs off, severing his head and shredding his torso to tiny bits. The vampire didn't bleed; maybe they were truly made of stone. A tan wolf appeared out of the woods and glanced at me before jumping into the dwindling fight.

The battle was over in seconds, it seemed, and the last remaining pieces of the vampire were drug or tossed away by the wolves, and I finally released the breath I didn't know I had been holding. My throat and lungs burned with the fresh oxygen. I squeezed my eyes shut and slumped back against the tree trunk. My brain hurt; my thoughts bounced around in my skull at ninety miles an hour and I was suddenly exhausted. Maybe I was just so close to death that I was hallucinating. People who are near death often see monsters fighting to the death for them… right? Ugh. This was too much.

My eyes snapped open when I felt a hot human hand on my shoulder. "Embry?" I whispered as my vision swam before I could clearly focus on my twin's anxious face.

My thoughts didn't register before I grabbed him into a hug. Embry tensed in my arms for a split second before wrapping his arms around me and pulling me fiercely into his chest.

"Shit, Cas. I thought you were dead for sure! But it's okay. You're okay…" Embry trailed off still hugging me to his naked torso. My grip on Embry loosened when I heard heavy paws approach. The huge russet wolf was standing behind Embry looking down at me unblinking.

I stared back. Did I really know those eyes? Could Jacob really be a wolf? My body knew even if my mind couldn't accept it. Experiencing the same compulsion I had last night, I had to touch him. I moved to stand up and Embry helped me but kept himself between me and the wolf.

"Jacob?" I rasped out of my bruised throat as I reached toward the wolf. Embry grabbed my wrist to stop me, which caused the Jacob wolf behind him to let out a low menacing warning growl. Embry shot a glance over his shoulder at Jacob before he let go of my wrist.

Jacob sat down on his haunches in front of me and lolled his huge pink tongue out of his mouth in a lopsided canine grin.

"Please don't, Cassie. It's not safe," Embry said, his eyes not leaving my face. His comment earned another growl out of Jacob.

"It's not safe…Really, Em? I was nearly eaten by vampires. And you and your Pack, turn into huge wolves and just saved my life, and you want to tell me being close to Jacob isn't safe. He won't hurt me." I met my twin's concerned eyes. "Take a step back, Em. Please?" Either my pathetic state or rasping voice softened my brother's resolve and he stepped out from between Jacob and me with an aggravated huff.

I walked gingerly toward the brown wolf. When I got close enough I simply threw myself into his shoulder; he smelled just like Jacob. My fingers dug into Jacobs's fur as I clung to him. I was safe, and I was home here. My fear dissipated and huge fat tears leaked out of the corners of my eyes.

"I knew it was you." I felt his huge muscles relax, and I continued, "Thank you for saving me." I sniffed into the silky fur of Jacob's neck. My brain seemed to be processing data again because I had realized something, which made me tense and pull away slightly from Jacob. I could see the hurt in Jacob's eye, so I left my hand on his cheek. I wasn't tense because of him.

"There was more than just that vampire. There were at least two of them," I said, as I turned my body to face Embry. Embry just stood and gaped at me with his mouth hanging open. Jacob moved beneath my hand, so I dropped it to my side. The other wolves weren't with us anymore, and suddenly a howl echoed in the distance.

Jacob's huge wolf eyes met mine before he quickly stood up and leaped into the forest. They must have found the other vampire.

I tore my eyes away from where Jacob had vanished and turned back to Embry. My twin was no longer gaping and had switched to scowling at the forest where Jacob had just been.

"Are you okay?" I asked, as I stepped toward him. My steps became shaky as my body started to give in to the shock, and Embry moved to grab me up into his arms before I could topple over.

"You're asking me if I'm okay! I'm supposed to be here taking care of you!" Embry said into my hair as he towed me into another hug.

Embry continued, "Are you okay, Cas? Seriously, because you're right, you were nearly eaten by vampires. And you were saved by werewolves, who are actually people you know…" When he pulled back to look at me, I allowed my body to collapse back into him. It was one thing to say it, but to hear my irrational suspicions confirmed…Suddenly, I had become beyond tired and was holding on to my twin for dear life. My brain had quickly spiraled into over load –my whole body hurt, and every breath tore at my abused throat.

Embry actually had the nerve to chuckle, before he swung me up into his arms.

"At least you're acting more human, now. Let's get you to Emily's…"

I felt my twin's legs moving beneath me, but I let my eyes close. I had a lot to process all of the sudden. All I had wanted was a normal life –a normal family. I hadn't asked to be a part of this dramatic horror movie. Did I even want to try and deal with this new reality? California hadn't been that bad, and I would bet I could get my old job back. A groan escaped my lips before I allowed the blackness to overtake me.

A/N:

Any thoughts on their kiss or the vamp fight? Wolfy Jacob?

I tackled a ton of 'firsts' in this chapter (the touchy-feely mush, and the small action sequence) so I would love some feedback. Pretty please?

Any constructive criticism would be very welcomed and appreciated! I cherish all of you for reading! Thanks!

*hugs and wolfy kisses*

Special thanks to PTB's DreaC, for being patience with my decidedly lack of comma use and the fact I fight with the spaces around my ellipses. Bastards like being there, I guess.