So, this chapter got deleted from my computer twice because it rebooted itself. I'm really sorry about the delay on this chapter, guys.

~*Break*~

I was still stuck as a wolf, and I couldn't figure out a way to get back into my human body. I looked down at my paws and huffed. I would never get back to my body this way, and I wasn't sure why Jacob didn't stay around to help me. It was odd.

I visualized what I wanted to happen. I wanted to be human, human, human. I let that repeat and echo in my mind as I called up an image of me. Of my body and physical traits. I started with my eyes first, brown as dirt, nothing too special there. Then I went to my hair – probably my best feature – it was a dark brown, almost black, that was straight and silky. Dark skin that was slowly lightening, I wasn't out in the sun as much as I used to be, and my natural skin color was a little lighter than how it looked with a tan. I was slim, I focused on my exact musculature of my body and I pictured myself human.

I felt my body changing, stretching a little, then coming back to a different shape. I opened my eyes and looked down at my body. I was human! It wasn't as hard as I had thought it would be, but it still took me longer than I expected it should have. I looked around my backyard from the forest, if I went across it, no one would see me. One of the good things about our new house, was that there were multitudes of trees pressed up against our walls. Nobody could see into our yard from neighboring houses. The other nice thing was that we had no back wall, so I could shoot into the house from here without climbing over a wall while naked.

That would have been a disaster. I shook the thought of raw skin out of my head and tried to slip quietly into my yard and to the back door. I didn't see anyone in the house from where I was, even though the lights were on. I didn't see any shadows either.

I had finally made it to my backdoor, thanking my lucky stars that it was unlocked. I slid inside the house and was assaulted with the most terrible smell. It burned my nose and it smelled familiar.

Then it hit me hard, it was the thing that had chased Seth and I. That was its scent, or whatever it was called. I tried to stay on my feet, because I just wanted to lay on the kitchen floor in a ball. But I stood up straight and put my arm over my nose, and tried to cover myself as best I could with my other arm. Not that it really mattered anymore, nudity had only ever bothered my family, not me. My mom didn't mind it, just the males of our family.

I followed the smell to my room where it seemed to be the strongest, I opened my door and immediately started gagging. My room was neat and orderly. Completely the opposite of what I had left it. The man that had been in here had cleaned it. That's not something a burglar- or whatever he was – would do, or would he? The scent burned my nose and made my eyes water. I had never smelled anything like it.

I grabbed some clothes and shoes quickly, trying to get out of my room as fast as I could, and headed to my bathroom. I got dressed quickly, donning what I had grabbed in a hurry, not minding if it was mismatched. I went to the kitchen., shielding my nose from the smell with my hand, and grabbed the house phone. While I was dialing my cousin's phone, I grabbed an apple to snack on. I was starving, I hadn't eaten all day. Well, I had, just not that much.

The dial tone came on finally and I listened to it ring, my cousin answered on the third ring. "'Sup?" He threw out casually.

"I may have left my stuff in the forest." There was a pause on the line before my cousin started snickering on his end. "It's not funny! I was in danger! I couldn't just take my bike in my mouth and run!" He laughed even harder and I fumed. "I need you to help me get my stuff." He stopped laughing.

"Why?" I tried not to roll my eyes.

"Uh, because Mike is nowhere to be found and I can't drive a car." He paused again, as if to think about it, then replied quickly.

"Sure, why not?" I shook my head. "I'll be over in a minute or two." I waited a few seconds and went to my room to look for anything the intruder might have forgotten or left behind. I looked at the window and I realized I had left it unlocked and that was most likely the way it had come in. Into my room. My room.

I shuddered and tried to stop it from echoing over and over in my head. It was futile and I was left with it reverberating around in my skull. It still smelled terrible in my room and as I walked over to my bed the smell got worse. It was like he/it had rolled around in it before making it immaculate. Things were getting weirder and weirder, first I turned into a wolf, then some sort of powers surfaced in my body, and that thing came to town. I wasn't sure what was worse, the sudden change in my body or the thing that was chasing us around town like a cat chasing mice.

I walked quickly out of my room and down the hall just as I heard a knock on my door; it had to be my cousin. I walked even quicker down the hall and into the living room where our front door was and opened it up to Jake.

"Hey, Josie, are you ready to go?" I rolled my eyes and nodded, then shut the door behind me, hoping my dad wouldn't notice that it was unlocked. Then I thought of the extra key he had put above the door, I smiled and grabbed at it. But there was nothing there, I balled up my fists and mentally kicked myself. I couldn't believe it wasn't there. "I have the key," I turned to see my cousin waving around the key and smiling at me deviously. "Whoa, someone looks angry," He laughed and locked the door. I rolled my eyes and followed him to his truck parked at the curb.

"You're a lot different than you are as a wolf," I started, he looked at me and smiled.

"I guess I am, but as a wolf I'm your alpha and not just your cousin. As a human, I'm your cousin and not just your alpha. Do you understand the difference?" He asked.

"I think I do," I did, but also didn't. He was so serious as a wolf, and just playful as a person. It was interesting to see the change that happened in his personality with the physical change.

"So, where did you say you left your stuff?" I hesitated for a moment, then remembered I had left them on the West side of the woods.

"I left all of my stuff on the West side of the woods, near the road to the beach." He went right at a fork in the road, and started to head towards the area I had been in.

"What were you doing way over there?" He asked me. "That's almost ten miles from your house." 8.7 to be exact, I looked up how far the beach was from our house a few months before we moved to Washington.

"I don't know, I just knew that I needed to be out of town before my body did something out of the ordinary." He nodded and kept driving.

"I know how it feels." He paused for a moment. "Like something is trying to burst out of your skin, and you're trying so hard to keep it all together…but you can't." My cousin was pretty smart sometimes, this being one of them. He stopped the truck and pulled over to the side of the road and pointed over into the woods where a glimmer of red stood out. "So, is that some of your stuff?" He raised his eyebrow at me and tried not to smile.

"Yes," I frowned at him and we simultaneously got out of his truck. "so, can you help me get everything? I need to be back before dad and Michael are." He nodded and walked into the forest to help me pick up all of my things.

"I have to go find Mike and make sure the other pack hasn't claimed him." I glanced at him sideways, waiting for my cousin to disclose the full details of the situation. He glanced and me and started, realizing that I couldn't see into his mind. "If I don't get to him first the other pack will try to convince him to join theirs. And yes, there is another pack." He paused and cleared his throat as he picked up my bike. "About two years ago when I was a sophomore in high school – actually, right after the time I briefly stopped going – the packs split. I didn't agree with something Sam Uley had set down, and I formed my own pack. A few of the others joined – Seth and Leah – then slowly Paul, Jared, and Quil came around. Then when Brady and Colin shifted they joined our pack instead of Sam's.

I nodded, trying to keep up with all he was telling me. But it was slightly confusing, he added in little details here and there that distracted from the story.

"So, that's what happened. Now that Sam doesn't have many wolves in his pack – they're mostly new shifters and one experienced shifter besides Sam – he wants a bigger pack. We aren't really at odds with each other, and he most likely wouldn't risk trying to take my cousin. But, I don't want to take a chance that he would recruit your brother. Got me?" He asked, I nodded quickly, startled that he was done talking, I had been expecting more from him. He was the biggest talker I knew.

We headed back to the truck in silence as I chewed over what he had just told me. I wanted my brother to be right beside me wherever I was. Even if we were wolves. I couldn't bear to have him somewhere I wouldn't be able to reach him, least of all another pack.

Sorry it took me so long to get this up! I can't believe how long it took me to write this, and it doesn't even take up that much room! Hope you guys enjoyed, and come back for more.