A/N:
Ohh... time for Harry angst. Poor guy, some things never change. I've never been really great at writing violence, but it's good practice for another story I've got planned. Constructive Criticism helps, flames get you hung out to dry. Apparently wizards/animagi are fuzzy for Alice. She can't see them clearly, but she can see enough.
Surrender to Strange Circumstances
Chapter 6: Who's the New Wolf?
Harry ran. He ran though the Aspen and Poplar trees, smelling the loam of the forest and the salt tang of the ocean seeping through the trees to the left of him. He did not know where he was going, but he knew he would always be able to find his way back; all he had to do was follow the spicy-sweet smell of spruce and cinnamon. Even though the rain that was steadily falling he would be able to find that scent. It was ingrained in his brain and his nose so deeply, he was sure he could find it, even from across the country.
He should have been paying attention to what was around him, but he was not. His mind was too full of the man behind him. The man who smelled of exotic forests and rain, who made him burn and kept him calm, who felt like home. His wolf noted the scents of Others and alerted, but the human mind sharing the body pushed those alerts and scents away, too preoccupied to really understand. His wolf howled louder at the coming danger, but Harry could not hear.
The first attack came from the left, where the scent was dulled by the harshness of salt on the ocean breeze. The huge tawny wolf slammed into Harry's side, flinging him through the air to land against a fallen tree. Harry howled in pain when he felt several ribs shatter. The second came as he was struggling to get up, this time by a brown wolf that pinned Harry's right hind leg between the downed tree and a rock next to it.
At that point Harry conceded control to his wolf. Home! He yelled to his wolf, get to Jacob-Alpha! His wolf took control gladly, snarling and biting his way through the throng of wolves to flee back to the cinnamon-spruce smell of safety and home. Harry ran back through the forest, this time stumbling and bleeding, every so often turning to let his wolf bite and beat back the larger wolves while the human part of his mind concentrated on keeping his wolf body together long enough to get help. He screamed for Jacob as he stumbled through the trees, but the answer was not quite what he expected.
Harry screamed again for Jacob, knowing that the Alpha would come if he could, yet also knowing that the Others would kill him long before help arrived. Still he struggled on, for giving up was not in his nature, so on he went, even as he mourned the loss of everything that might have been, the love and family he might have had and the life he would never get to live.
He saw Death come for him in the form of the same tawny wolf that had first thrown him. It leapt at him, intending to catch his throat. Harry dodged, slipped and fell. His breath came in pants as he tried to gather his strength for a last stand. He saw the wolf advance again, its teeth bared, ropes of foamy saliva drooling down its muzzle. Harry said goodbye to his parents, to Remy and Siri who had saved him, and to Jacob whom he was sure he loved. Then he snarled one last challenge at the tawny wolf, closed his eyes, and waited.
Harry never saw the silver-black blur that knocked the tawny harbinger off course and away from him, nor did he see that same blur resolve its self into a tiny black haired girl to stand and defend him against the rest of the pack, snarling and feinting until the wolves slunk back into the trees, awaiting the outcome and possibly another opportunity. Harry's eyes slid open when he realized he was still breathing, to land upon his defender, whom he at first took for a pixie. She laughed when the idea of her as a pixie entered into her seer's mind.
"A pixie I am not, nor any of the Fair Folk, White Wolf," she said, "though I believe you have some knowledge of my kind. I am Alice Cullen, and I have come to take you home."
Alice Cullen… Cullen… the vampire clan he was supposed to talk to. Alice was a vampire. Harry felt his wolf eyes widen. She had crossed the Border to save him! Why? And where were the wolves that attacked him? Alice seemed to sense his hesitation, because she spoke again.
"Come now, White Wolf, ponder the mysteries of the universe later. The wolves will not return to hurt you and while I am capable of carrying you in this form, it would be much easier if you were human. I can also see how badly you are hurt if you turn back," she said.
Harry felt his wolf skin slip away from him and saw Alice smile when his true form was revealed to her.
"There you are White Wolf," she grinned, "now, let's see the extent of the damage, shall we?" She knelt beside him and gently lifted his shirt up. Her eyes widened and she drew in a breath she did not really need.
Things must be really bad if the vampire is breathing, Harry thought to himself. He tried to draw in enough air to ask how badly he was hurt but his chest and back protested so much, the best he could manage was a strangled moan. Merlin's wrinkled ballsack, he thought, I must have punctured a lung when I hit that tree. I probably have some bruised organs, if not some internal bleeding and I know my right leg is injured but I can't tell how badly. Remy is going to flip the fuck out when he hears about this. I hope Siri can keep him from doing something stupid.
"Sweet Mother Night," Alice whispered, breaking into Harry's thoughts, "It is much worse than I anticipated. I am going to take you to the Black house where Jacob and Angela are waiting for you, but it is going to hurt. Badly."
Harry nodded his understanding and braced himself when he felt Alice's slender arms slip under his knees and shoulders.
"Close your eyes and think of Jacob, I will run as fast as I can. I'm sorry." With those words, Alice lifted Harry into her arms and sprinted off toward the heart of Quileute territory, risking her life for the injured man in her arms, and so she ran and Harry's screams echoed through the forest for miles around.