Happy Holidays everyone! Uber-long chapter and nearing the end of book three!

Adrian POV

Anything physical had become very simple since I woke up in this new body. For the first time, I had to exert myself. After my goodbyes with my brother, I pumped my legs to the water and immediately began swimming back the way I came.

I was not just relying on my strength to move quickly; I had to push myself to move faster, as fast as possible. The sun came up before I was halfway through the reflective water. The surface of it was shining back the sunshine, but my skin was far brighter so I had to go underwater. I had been underwater far too many times today.

When I came out on the other side, I found it very easy to find my way back to the house, but when I got there, it was empty. I wonder how Riley got them out of the dark after effectively terrifying them for so long.

Again I had to push myself so that I could catch up with the tail of the army. Their scent was simple to follow because there was so many of them. They really smelled good, like lavender and honeysuckle and all things sweet. I followed in their footsteps but didn't hear or see them.

The first I came upon were a pair. Well, was a pair. When I got there, the other one was nearly ashes. The blonde head had not fully burned yet.

The trail was interrupted by a snarling girl I recognized from the army absolutely fuming over a burning heap of a person. Her name was Sara, and she was in one of the big gangs, a follower of Christie. I shuddered involuntarily and it gave me away. The girl turned and her eyes were glowing murderously.

"Shhh-," I began as she lunged towards me. I moved out of the way quickly and grabbed her arm. It had been too long since I fed so I wasn't very strong. It took both hands and some effort to pull it from her torso, making a magnificently gruesome sound. She hissed at me

I was taught a few points about self-defense from my brother and one was that if someone attacks you, you throw your purse away from you so they'll go after it. I did that with the girl's arm. I tossed it like a football through a space in the trees above. I flew high in an arc and disappeared beyond the trees. I heard the distant rustling of disturbed leaves.

She considered fighting me with three limbs or searching for her arm and chose the latter. With a great growl, she ran away.

"You know I might have saved your life!" I called after her before heading back on the trail. I could find my way to the fight by sound now. The screeching and yelling and growling and ripping were so loud. And then there was the thick ribbon of smoke curling its way to the sky about a mile away. It was accompanied by the cloying sweet smell of burning vampires.

I guess I was feeling a little heroic that day because when I saw another newborn fallen behind, I just had to open my new mouth. I was so angry with them for getting bitten, being in the army, mindlessly going to battle. I was angry that they were putting my family in danger because it meant their slaughter. I was angry at the fighting. I knew it wasn't their fault, but I was still mad.

"Turn back!" I yelled at the small girl with long brown hair. She whipped around at me, her eyes holding desperation. Great, it was grumpy couch girl.

"Why?" she hissed.

"If you go in there, you'll get slaughtered. No one from our side's going to make it."

"What about the people who got there early?" she asked with a cocked head and suspicious tone.

I didn't know anything about an early bird special, but if I was going to save this girl, she is not going to give me backtalk, "Ashes. Just go. If you run, they won't chase you."

She looked a little broken and dazed. She must have lost someone. I was very familiar with that look.

"I'm sorry. Just go, please. Don't die like this."

She stared at me long enough to make me uncomfortable. Her eyes were black. Everything about her was black. To my relief, she ran away into the woods, in the opposite direction of the fight.

I did not follow her. I ran towards the noise of battle.

I climbed a tree to get a view of what was going on. There were still a handful of newborns being fought by the Cullens and the enormous wolves. I scanned the field and quickly found a sight to make me explode with joy. It seemed to pour out of cracks and crevices in my body. One russet wolf clearly standing out in the chaos.

I traveled through the branches until I was in the highest tree surrounding the field where the fighting was going on. I watched Jacob with a smile knowing that soon this would be over and we could be together. He was so fast and good. I felt an odd sort of pride.

And then for the third time that day, I chose to act.

I saw it before it happened. He was fighting a big guy from Raoul's clique, and a woman looked over and saw an opportunity.

It wasn't fear that caused me to jump out of that tree; it was possessiveness. He was mine, and no one was going to lay a finger on him before I could.

With a noise better suited for a bear or a harassed lion, I jumped off my branch and into the clearing. It was so easy placing my feet on the ground that there was not a moment before I was running to Jacob's attacker.

He was fighting someone else. She was springing to attack him. I was springing to attack her.

She didn't see me until I collided with her and both of us fell to the ground.

In a quiet voice holding a malice I did not know I possessed, I said, "Don't you dare touch my boyfriend."

She had a moment of confusion I used to stick my hand under her chin, preparing to rip. She snapped out of that quick enough and grabbed my wrist which was threatening the attachment of her head and body. Her other hand I had pinned down. She was stronger than I was, and was able to throw me off of her, sending me flying through the air.

I landed on the ground and quickly got back up. My Jacob was running towards the girl. I quickly ran in the same direction. He jumped on top of her and got his giant teeth around the neck I had tried to rip off. It was like he was designed to do this.

He spit the head, still frozen in a scream, out of his mouth, and I jumped to catch it. I threw it overhead into the fire.

"Two points," I said to myself.

There was a barky laugh that turned into a human one from my right. I turned, and there was my glorious Jacob, that blazing white grin bursting from his deep russet skin.

I laughed too, free and hysterical. We ran at each other and to close the last stretch of distance, I jumped. He was just strong enough to catch me and stay on his feet. He wrapped his arms around my back, and my legs went around his hips. He let in a sharp intake of breath.

I burrowed my face in his neck. It was a scalding hot, but I hadn't felt warm in weeks. I embraced it.

"You take my breath away, Adrian," he said lower than a whisper. The way he said my name sounded like salvation.

"I thought I'd never see you again. I thought I made you up. You were just a dream."

"Please never leave me again," he said, he begged.

"Never," I promised.

I held his face on my hands and studied his face, committing the arch of his brow and the angle of his jaw to memory. I would never forget again.

Tentatively, I leaned in and touched my lips to his. The hard ice mine was made of created a contrast with his- soft, pink, and so hot. Yet they fit together perfectly, just as before. He shuddered, smiled, and returned my kiss.

A wetness touched my fingers, and I pulled an inch away from Jacob's face. He was crying. I smiled and kissed the moist spot below his eye.

"Damn," he said, and a flutter ran through me when he cursed, "That's not very cool, is it?"

"It's very cool," I said, "I wish I was cool enough to do that."

"From my point of view, you are very, very cool."

I giggled, again boarding on hysteria. The saying is that if you don't laugh, you'll cry. I can't physically produce tears, but my laughter is definitely substituting something close to that.

"I missed your jokes. I really did," I said. I missed every part of him. Or a better description would be that a part of him was missing from me, now wholly replaced, "I love you."

We had been giddy in love before everything went to hell. But as passionate as that affection was, now it looked like puppy love. The change and the separation and the danger scratched on us like sandpaper. After all this time, we still want and need each other. All that crap polished our love into something permanent. Something intense. Something unbreakable.

So when I said I love you this time, there was more meaning behind that than there had been the last time. I wasn't saying it as his girlfriend. I meant it as his imprint, as his mate.

"I love you," he answered, and I know he felt the weight of it too.

I moved my hands from his face and unwrapped my legs. He set me down, and we hugged normally. I was still short, but I didn't care. I liked fitting into him. It made me feel safe. I missed feeling safe.

"It's over," he said, leaning down to kiss the top of my head.

"We made it."

"Yeah, we did," he said with a laugh of relief.

I took a deep breath, and my noise was assaulted.

"Jacob," I said.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I don't want to offend you, but you smell…so bad."

He laughed- no, he guffawed.

"I get that a lot," he said between more chuckles, "It's a wolf thing."

"Oh," I said. I remembered that we were enemies by nature and a scary thought came upon me.

"Do I smell?" I asked.

"No," he said straightaway.

"You liar," I giggled, and we both laughed. All we wanted to do was laugh. It was like being at the dentist. The laughing gas was erasing all the pain.

I looked away from him. The fight was over. The Cullens were walking around the field and throwing scattered body parts into the big fire. Again that day, I shuddered. I never felt so cold before.

"If I didn't know you, I'd be dead," I said quietly. His hold around me tightened.

"But you're not. That's what counts," he said just as quietly.

"You saved me."

"You saved yourself. You got out alive. You came back."

"You traitor!" The outraged scream came not from me but from my good friend, Sara. Her arm was now reattached.

"Missed one," I mumbled.

"You traitor!" she repeated as a battle cry. She was dumb as a bag of rocks but relentlessly loyal to that stupid army. She must have been both to go after me when the rest of her team was a smokestack.

Jacob turned, sprung and phased in midair before the beginning of "traitor" was out of her mouth. They collided, and Sara landed on top. Jacob got out from under her pin, but her arms closed around his middle and squeezed. A million grotesque cracking noises were made; each one I could hear individually. I cringed before a great fire grew around me. Not one that burned but one that moved with me. One that came from within.

Jacob fell to the ground, whimpering. His wolf body was shaking like an earthquake. I ran and pounced on the stupid soldier. She was stronger and bigger, but I was angry. I was unforgiving.

I pushed her chin as far back as I could without ripping it. For some reason, I was not able to go farther. I had killed before. Human people in the middle of their lives. I had been in pain, and I didn't care what means lead to the end of it. I was a monster. Sara had attacked my mate. Jacob was howling in pain.

"Adrian, stop," I heard behind me. I don't know who. I didn't listen. I was thinking.

Sara whimpered. "I'm sorry," she sobbed. I don't think it was sincere. She was probably just doing it because she was scared and didn't want to die. Which is a pretty good reason.

"I saved your life. I chose not to kill you. What am I a traitor to? The army? The mission Riley didn't tell us was suicidal? Am I traitor to you? Because I tried to keep you from going the same way as Christie and Raoul and every person Riley killed?"

The realization fell upon her like embers from the fire. A deep hurt that came with understanding awful truths.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered.

"Please don't kill me," she begged.

"Is he going to be okay?" I called out, my eyes not leaving Sara's. The fight was out of my voice.

"Yes," a voice said in my ear. I turned slightly, and Jasper was next to me. He was watching me with wary eyes. It made me feel ashamed, but some interference from his presence made that dissipate quickly.

"Go," I said quietly, "Don't be stupid this time."

I moved my hand. She wriggled out from under me and ran away into the woods without a look back.

"You didn't have to let her go," Jasper said, and I knew he wouldn't judge me whether or not I did.

"I didn't have it in me to kill her." My voice was tired.

"I know. You're young," he answered. I didn't ask if it got easier with age. Instead he grabbed my hand and I felt very calm. He pulled me off the ground.

"Is he going to be okay?" I asked again. I could see Jacob's legs sticking out of the huddle of Carlisle, his parents, Sam, and Paul. One was twisted grotesquely.

Jasper put his arm around me and escorted me over to the huddle. The touch felt like a restraint. I had never properly spoken to Jasper before. I remembered him being the expert on how to deal with newborns. Since I often forgot to classify myself as the same group of the army I came down with, I didn't often realize I would be seen as volatile. Next to the Cullens, I was a lion among housecats.

"Just a few bones shattered. He'll be fine in a few days," he said it dryly and a hint of a Southern accent was evident.

"What?"

"Carlisle's taking care of him. He'll be fine."

"I don't believe you."

"I figured that much."

Jacob was writhing in agony while howling loudly in pain. His body looked deformed.

"He's already starting to heal," Carlisle said, struggling to examine his grandson.

"That's not good," Jake's dad commented.

"We have to get him back to the house," Mrs. Cullen said.

"They're coming," Alice hissed.

"Who?" I asked.

"Volturi," Jasper told me.

"Who?"

"Vampire law enforcement," he explained.

"They're a little late," I said.

"You need to go," Jasper told the wolves, "They won't honor our treaty with you. They think you're extinct. They'll want to correct that."

"What about Jake?" Paul asked.

"Carlisle, they think we changed him a long time ago," Rosalie said.

"We'll have to hide him," he said, "We'll say he's helping burn Victoria. That we changed him a few months ago."

"Where is Edward?" I asked Jasper.

"Taking Bella home. He's almost back," he said, "They can't know we have another human."
"Did you kill Riley?"

"Yes. He and Victoria went after Bella and Edward. They were camped in the mountains."

"Coming. Very close," Alice said with a worried urgency.

"Rosalie, Emmett, you need to stay," Jasper said. Both opened their mouths in protest.

"He's right!" Edward said from the other side of the field. He came over to us in a blur, "They're going to know we're hiding something if one of you is gone, and that we're hiding Jacob."

"Who would be best to go with Jacob?" Esme said deferring to Jasper.

"We can spare you and Alice. No offense."

"None taken," she said.

Everyone was talking quickly and quietly. It wasn't hard to keep up, but it added to the friction of the situation.

"Will you help us move him?" Mrs. Cullen turned to Sam. I wondered if vampires could be turned from a really harsh glare because a look like that could have made me stone faster than a bite. Sam was a tough guy, but he quickly nodded. Mrs. Cullen was not going to put up with vampire-werewolf differences today.

"Carefully now," Carlisle said as several pack members lifted Jacob, "Hold as still as possible, Jacob."

Jacob attempted to comply, but he was in so much pain. He tried to fix his discomfort by introducing the circle to a very wide vocabulary, moving on to other languages when English did not suffice. I wished I could go with him, but I knew better than to argue. I was so close to getting out of the danger necessary before a forever with Jacob.

Jasper, still gripping me tightly, leaned and said swiftly and fervently, "You used to live in Alaska. You are Jacob's mate, and you met while we were visiting our cousins in Denali- Tanya, Kate, Irina, Elezear and Carmen. You want to live the vegetarian lifestyle, but you had a few slip-ups. You are seven months old and know no vampires other than ourselves and those in Alaska. Your creator abandoned you, and you woke up in the woods far from your town alone and confused."

As soon as he finished, four figures cloaked in black appeared silently on the other side of the woods. The weight in my chest moved to my throat, and I prayed the last hurdle to forever be not too high.

Review if it tickles your pickle but thanks for reading anyway :D