Chapter Summary: Victoria seals an unknown man's fate as he patrols his own land, late one night. Jacob and Bella's secret intimacy does not escaped unnoticed, but it must be placed aside for now as the battle between the newborns and the almost unstoppable vargulf versus the pack begins.

*Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight and I lack the control to stop writing this story.

Chapter XXXI Title: 'Kiss & Control,' by AFI

(APOV) Author's point of view

A loose rock made its way onto the walking path around the border of the La Push reservation.

The man on duty kicked it off the road and back into its place in the forest. He sighed and continued his slow walk toward home. He was usually never out this late, but with all the talk that had been going on between the young Quileute warriors, the tribe elders, and the nonstop arguing in his own house, he was glad to be out late at night. He would do anything he could to help.

He slowed his walk down a little bit more, unable to keep up the proper pace for a healthy man in his fifties. "Damn high blood pressure," he silently cursed. His wife's wonderfully annoying nags had finally sunk into his head. He was going to have to change himself and his living habits if he was going to make it to the ripe old age of his ancestors. The man snorted at the thought of being older, wiser, and spoiling the grandchildren he was sure to have. "Not too soon, I hope," he said out loud, chuckling. He doubted that he had to worry about that. His children were still young yet.

A low snarl left the nearby trees.

The man turned too slowly and his back was forced against a tree by four pale hands and two pairs of red eyes that glowed even in the dead of night. The man struggled with his shotgun, but it was ripped from his clutch easily by a pair of teeth sliced through one of his hands in the process of taking the useless weapon away like a tender peach being bit into. The man cried out sharply, but was stopped cold by another pair of eyes; these were orchid yellow, reminding him of a dead and rotting tree in the middle of the forest. He slowly felt wrongfully at peace and soothed into mediocrity as the horrid smells continued to seep into his nostrils.

The amount of blood dripping from his hand now crept out, the drops made pit-pat sounds on the soft ground, but it alerted a small frenzied group of beings closer to him. They smelled the fresh blood and wanted a closer look. The creatures had each been given permission to take and kill whomever they chose and could sink their teeth into, but one particular item was off the menu. The deadly beings had each been allowed to smell a few articles of clothing with the human girl's scent, but their master had been very hesitant with them. She allowed them to roam free previously, but had rung them in on her own personal leash as they had gotten closer to their destination. To the site of the battle to be taken place.

This was a battle to be won. This was a battle to have casualties on both sides.

Their master didn't care how many of her soldiers were to be lost. The redhead's eyes were the perfect color to her hair; the more blood she drank, the redder her eyes became, but her hair stayed the fiery red-orange that it had been since her previous mate's death.

She suddenly scowled into the empty air. She no longer cared if her own life was lost as long as she got to her intended victim; as long as she caused the suffering to one particular prey.

The two sets of hands were earnestly awaiting their command and the huge, hairy owner of the infatuating smell that had taken ahold of the La Push's night escort was getting restless. Rover was ready to hunt too.

"Be done with him," the female voice stated easily. Her red eyes never lost their focus on the tiny row of houses that came into view shortly after the captive man gurgled a light scream. She inhaled the new aroma of blood as it filled the air, but she was not interested in feeding. Her minions could dine all they wanted as long as they didn't allow it to get in the way of the task she set in front of them. Her devious smile paved the way for the slow, but hulking beast by her side, to descend into La Push.

Screams filled the air and spread from one house to the next, all the way into the breaking dawn.

(JPOV)

My teeth felt the urge to sink into Bella's beautiful ivory skin, but I held myself at bay.

I had already been lucky enough to have her again and my heart felt renewed since she had asked me to be with her. I brushed my nose against the outline of her fingers, trying desperately to burn the smell of that bloodsucker out of my nose, and replace it completely with hers.

I knew Edward was out there.

I could smell him almost as soon as I had her climax on the bed from eating her out. I licked my lips again and thought of my face beneath her and her hips scratching across my smooth skin. Bella was the very definition of me. I licked my teeth marks that had been pressed into her earlobe and she giggled, while pulling me closer.

And she wanted me to stay with her during the fight. She had begged for me to stand by her side while the others fought. I knew Sam would have a problem, but he couldn't make me against Bella's wishes. Not while he knew how much she meant to me.

I could feel my mark fade on the back of her neck and a wave of shame instilled me. I wished I had asked her. Bella had been right. What right did I have to make her stay with me if she wasn't ready to? That made me no better than the bloodsucker who had decided to leave her without giving her a choice in the matter all those months ago. And look where that got him, I thought. Bella shivered a little as I looked down at her on the bed and I covered her with the sheets and my nude body.

"You did promise to stay with me you know," she announced shyly.

I smiled and ruffled her hair. I was ready to tell her she was my imprint. She was really free to accept me now and know what the two of us were destined to be.

"Bella, I think—AH!" A tremble ripped through my back suddenly as my nostrils were invaded by dozens of different smells. One smelled like a drowned flower in cologne. The other smelled like decaying and infested wood. Another smelled of candied death, carnations that were months old. My mouth fought to keep the taste of bile from my throat, but my legs ripped me out of Bella's arms and flung me across the room, into her bedroom wall, roughly.

My arms flailed and I felt my skin on fire. Incoherent thoughts screamed in my mind and a roar left my lips. My nose inched forward and my senses heightened. I could taste the room, still saturated with our body scents from the latest love escapade we had just made. I could feel my heart beat increase and pound against my chest. I could smell the fear emitting off of Bella. I could see Sam and the others racing toward the reservation, minus Seth and Embry who had run back toward the border of Forks.

They were coming for me. They were coming to get me. Something's wrong. Something was very wrong.

Screams erupted faraway and I heard merciless snarls and grunts in the distance.

I could see them. I could see our reservation. Dozens of figures running in confusion; two sets of people. One set was clearly moving in a panic while the other beings…moved inhuman.

Oh God.

"Bella—" I pressed my fingers gently into my temples to make myself speak softly, but it was too much above a whisper and more like an angry snarl. I heard Charlie stir, but I couldn't fight my voice. I couldn't keep control of my voice and my body at the same time. "I—"

"Jake, what's going on?" Bella swung her legs with the sheets and moved toward me. I knew my skin was too hot. I jumped back and landed closer to her bedroom window. "Jake, honey, calm down. What's wrong? What's happening?"

Something between a howl and a wail sounded from my mouth. I clutched my head and felt my knees almost sink to the floor. My 6'7 frame was almost shrunken down to the size of Bella. I felt her fingers move across my arms before I could push her back. She hissed as her skin reacted to mine and I pleaded with her through tears. "Get. Away. From. Me." I spoke each word separately. My body continued to slowly peel off its own skin as if it were shedding. "Oh shit—"

I could barely hear the door knob to Bella's bedroom turn as I dug my fingers into the wall. I could smell something horrid burning along the edges of the forest not too far from Bella's house. It was only three miles at the most. Whatever was happening was happening close. I had to keep Bella and Charlie safe, but I was sure that Charlie's mind was somewhere else.

"Bella? Bella, what's going on—WHAT THE—?" Charlie's sleepy state went to alarm as he quickly regarded his daughter wrapped in her sheer bedroom sheets, naked underneath, and me who was completely uncovered period.

"Dad," she started, but looked in my direction to reach for me again.

"No, Bella!" I ducked from her grasp and grabbed the sill of the window for support. I almost tore it down with my weight. I yelled as my hand turned into a paw and my chest completely shredded what was left of my skin. Charlie's eyes enlarged.

"Tell me what's wrong, Jacob!" She pleaded. "What's happening?"

I swallowed deeply and took a quick glance at Charlie as he reached to pull Bella closer to him. "Get away from him, Bella!" Charlie warned.

Charlie was scared. I had never seen his hand shake, even slightly, but I was sure any human would be able to tell that Charlie had quickly become out of his element. Murderers, thieves, and the general human abnormalities he could handle, but a sixteen year-old naked werewolf in his daughter's bedroom in the early morning was stretching what little grasp he had left on reality. I would have laughed had it not been so hard to swallow, and if I wasn't the naked werewolf.

I could feel my bones reshaping and moving under my skin; it hurt worse than the tearing happening beneath it. I stared into my imprint's eyes, incapable of lying to her if she wanted to know the truth. If she needed to know if the ones she loved were in danger. I even allowed myself empathy for the Cullens. Even Edward, who had been standing outside, listening to our moans of passion into the night, but I smiled a pained smile as I tried to say as little as possible out of fear that I would phase so close to her and Charlie.

"It's started, Bella."

Bella's eyes teared as I fell back, unable to hold it any longer. My scream tore through the still young morning, but it wasn't from the glass that had scratched and inserted itself into my back as I fell the two stories. My one human hand felt air, but less than a fraction of a second I fell gracefully onto all four of my reddish paws as a frayed gray wolf showed himself on the forest edge. Embry took one look at me and ran back into the depths of the woods, back toward the reservation. His intent to me was clear; I was to follow him back.

I turned to look at Bella from the broken window. She was still clinging to the bed sheet wrapped around her, with tears in her eyes. I howled briefly at her beautiful shadow, gazing over me as if she were already in heaven and I was doomed to stay away from her on the earth. I tried to apologize with a single whimper, but I knew I would need more than that to show her that I truly did care. I had promised that I would stay with her and not fight, but this was more than a battle for me now.

"Bella," I muttered her name repeatedly under my ragged muzzle as I pushed myself to the brink of exhaustion toward my home in La Push. More howls echoed through my head and sped the pace of my heart as images of what had been done to our home set in. Shame and guilt spread through the pack like a disease and shook our very legs as each pack member ran, but I had already made a plan to escape as soon as I was able.

I would be back for Bella. I would not break my promise to her.