All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer

CHAPTER THREE

After spending the day at Emily's house helping her prepare enough food to last eight normal people a week, the sky grew dark and we left the house to meet the others. Jacob and Sam carried the food while we walked to First beach where the driftwood had been lit, and the other wolves were already sat around the huge fire. Jared was sitting on a log with his girlfriend, and Embry and Paul were tossing a football around a little way from them. I caught Paul's gaze and he looked away, a sheepish expression on his face.

I was amazed at how quickly the boys demolished the piles of food we had spent all day preparing, but Emily told me she was used to it. When everything had been eaten, the pack began a game of football a little way from us, leaving us girls to speak.

"So, how does this compare to a day with the leeches, Vampire Girl?" Emily asked, a smirk on her face. She had been using the nickname for me all day, and I could tell she didn't mean it in an insulting way. We had actually got on really well, and she had filled me in on a lot of things about the pack.

"I've really enjoyed today, actually. It's been really… normal." I laughed, struggling for a word to describe life with the pack. But that was exactly how it had felt, normal. I seemed to fit in here even though I had felt awkward in the beginning. All the feelings of not being good enough I used to experience with the Cullens didn't exist with Jacob and his friends. It had all been very easy and natural.

"Good." She replied simply. "I could definitely get used to having you around to help; keeping the pack fed is like having a full time job." We sat like this for a while, chatting and giggling while Emily told us funny stories about various members of the pack.

A little later on the boys came back to sit with us around the fire. Kim was asleep with her head resting on Jared's shoulder, and Emily and Sam were snuggling together, so I sat with Jake, Embry and Paul. I noticed Paul kept eyeing me nervously, like he wanted to say something. Eventually he got up and walked over to me, asking if he could speak to me. I gave Jake a nervous look, but he just shrugged so I got up and followed Paul away from the others.

"Look, about earlier…" he finally started when we were out of hearing distance.

"Don't worry about it, Paul. You can't apologise every time you phase." I laughed, and he joined in a little.

"I guess not." He stopped walking then and turned to me. "Can I?" he asked, motioning to my hand. I didn't say anything, but held my hand up for him. He bent his head towards it, studying it and stroking the scar gently with one of his long fingers. His hands shook slightly, but nothing like the other times when he had turned into a wolf.

After a couple of minutes of staring at the scar he lifted his gaze to meet my eyes. He wasn't as big as Jacob, but was still probably a foot bigger than me so I had to look up quite a way. His eyes carried an intensity I couldn't figure out, and I noticed after a minute that he hadn't dropped my hand. When I started to feel uncomfortable with the silence, I tore my eyes away from his and looked back towards the rest of the pack. He dropped my hand quickly and looked away from me.

"Sorry, you should get back to Jake." He told me, setting off back to the others. Before we made it more than a few steps however, he stopped abruptly and sniffed. Letting out a loud, menacing growl he began to shake uncontrollably, looking towards the forest at the edge of the beach. The others seemed to have understood his growl and I saw them running for the trees, shifting into wolves on the way. Without warning Paul grabbed me and lifted me over his shoulder in a fireman lift, running with me back to Emily and Kim.

"What the hell?" I managed to shout out as he carefully put me down next to Emily.

"Red-head," he stated simply, nostrils flaring in anger. "Stay right here till one of us comes back for you." He ordered, heading for the trees and phasing into his silver wolf. I waited until the last of his tail was no longer visible through the trees before turning to face the other girls. They both looked terrified, looking towards the forest after their partners. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and ran towards the sea, heaving from the terror I felt at what could happen to Jake. I knew only too well how strong and fast vampires were, and I couldn't understand how the wolves could be a match for Victoria.

When I gained more control of myself I headed back to Kim and Emily, and we all sat on a log by the fire staring towards the forest in silence. About five minutes later a wolf emerged from amongst the trees, and my stomach dropped when I saw that its fur was brown. I wasn't sure if it was Embry or Jared, but my heart sunk when I realised that it wasn't my russet brown Jacob.

"Jared?" Kim called, and he turned and nodded his head slightly at us.

"Sam will have sent him to make sure the leech doesn't double back to come for Bella," Emily said knowingly, sounding every inch the alpha's mate. She seemed to quickly realise that her words might have distressed me, and rubbed my back gently. We sat like that for an indiscernible length of time, all slightly trembling from both fear for the pack and the absence of the heat they generated.

After what felt like hours Jared trotted behind the trees, reappearing a moment later in his human form. He walked back over to us and pulled Kim into a firm hug.

"Sam's told me to come and take you all home, they're on their way back." He told us, gathering up the blankets and various other things we had left around the fire.

"Are they all okay? Did they get her?" Emily asked, anxiety still clear in her voice.

"They're all fine. Didn't get her though. Chased her almost to Canada, she's so good at avoiding getting caught."

Emily nodded and we both let out a quick sigh of relief. We grabbed the rest of the containers from the food and headed for Emily's house, as it was nearest.

"Jacob's gonna come and get you from here, Bella." Jared told me, and we said our goodbyes to him and Kim before heading into the house. Emily instantly went into the kitchen and started washing the containers, so I grabbed a towel to dry for her.

"I always try to keep busy when Sam's out on his duties," Emily explained to me as she handed me the last container. "Stops me going crazy. I think it's an imprint thing."

I looked at her in confusion. "Imprint? What's that?"

She stopped and looked at me for a second, as if she had said something she shouldn't have, but quickly continued. "Wolf thing. Not important right now, I'm sure Jacob will tell you about it when he gets chance. He really likes you, you know."

I nodded, not missing her attempt to dismiss the subject. "I know he does, and I really like him."

She studied my face for a moment before speaking. "But not in the same way?" she asked.

I stopped and thought for a minute, caught off guard by the turn in the conversation. "I don't know, I've not really had chance to think about it. I mean, I don't think I'm ready for a relationship, not after Edward. I don't want to go through that pain again." I confided in her, shocking myself with what I was saying. I hadn't told anyone this.

"You know that Jake would never hurt you right? He wouldn't leave you like the vampire did."

I nodded. "I know he wouldn't. But I can't risk losing him, Emily. He's my best friend and I need him so much, too much probably. He's only 16, he could change his mind about me at any moment."

She didn't say anything to that, but gave me a look that seemed to say she knew something I didn't.

We were saved from any further awkward conversation then when Sam burst into the room and strode over to Emily, pulling her flush to his body in an intimate embrace. I looked away abruptly, and was relieved to see Jacob motioning to me from the doorway. We slipped out of the house and he instantly grabbed me and pulled me into the air for a Jacob hug. I could barely breathe but I didn't care, I was just happy that he was unharmed.

"Do you mind if I carry you?" he asked as he held me there, and I shook my head against his chest. I was glad he had asked, the events of the night had drained me and all I wanted to do now was go to bed. I had completely forgotten to ask Jake what Emily had meant by an 'imprint'.

He carried me back to his house, cradling me against his chest and holding me a little tighter than usual. I could tell that the close encounter had unsettled him; his whole body seemed tense. When we made it to his room he set me down at the side of his bed and went to have a shower while I changed my clothes. Once I had changed into my usual tank top and shorts I crawled into his bed, falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I woke up about ten minutes later when Jacob had come in after the shower, and saw him putting a pillow on the floor and getting ready to lay down there.

"Jake?" I asked, rubbing my eyes groggily.

"Sorry Bells, I didn't mean to wake you."

"What are you doing?"

"Going to sleep," he replied, as if I was crazy.

"No I mean, why are you laying on the floor?"

"Well, I thought-"

I cut him off by shaking my head and motioning for him to get on the bed. "I'm not letting you sleep on the floor when you just ran all that way. Plus I bet you didn't sleep last night did you?"

He gave me a sheepish look, then got up and sat on the edge of the bed. I wriggled over to the other side of the bed to give him room, and he lay down.

"Night Jake." I whispered when we had both got settled.

"Night Bells, sleep tight." he replied quietly.