When Cat woke up the next morning she had a text message from Jacob on her phone. Cat felt irritated with herself for not going to see him sooner, seeing as that was what seemed to make him talk to her again. She read the message
"Hey, how are you?" it said, Cat smiled, how ever her smile faded when she saw that the message had been sent at six o'clock this morning.
"What on earth was he doing awake then?" Cat muttered to herself, she pressed her speed dial and rang Jacob's number, to lazy to text back. She plugged her headphones into her phone and put the ear buds into her ears. Jacob picked up almost immediately
"Hello?" he greeted
"Hey Jake" Cat answered
"Cat, how are you?" Jake sounded happy to hear from her
"I'm good, sorry, I couldn't be bothered answering your text so I called you instead" Cat yawned
"No that's alright, but are you sure you're alright, you don't sound it?" Jacob sounded worried now
"Well I did just wake up, I'm still tired" Cat laughed a little
"Oh sorry, did I wake you?" Jacob asked
"No, especially seeing as you sent that text at like six o'clock, takes more then that to wake me up" Cat confessed
"Sorry" Jacob sighed
"Stop apologising" Cat grinned "Now why on earth were you awake at six o'clock?"
"I, um, just woke up early, that's all" Jacob lied, Cat squinted even though he couldn't see her.
"I'll pretend I believe you" she eventually said "So I didn't get to ask, how are you?"
"I'm good" Jacob said plainly
"Well that's good" Cat smiled
"So, um, I was wondering, would you like to go for a walk? Together?" Jacob asked nervously
"Sure, where should we go? The beach? Through town? Through the forest?" Cat suggested
"Not through the forest" Jacob immediately said, this caused Cat to sit up.
"Why not?" she asked
"Cause it's dangerous in there" Jacob answered
"Coming from the person who was walking through it alone yesterday" Cat reminded him
"I can take care of myself" Jacob implied
"So can I, just because I'm a girl does not mean I can't whack a hot punch?" Cat grinned
"I didn't say you couldn't" Jacob admitted
"But you implied it, I'm always in those woods and nothing has ever happened yet" Cat remembered
"Well just cause it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it wont" Jacob informed her
"Well I wont be alone this time, I don't mind if we walk along the beach, but I'm just letting you know that I'm not staying out of those woods" Cat crossed her arms
"But…" Jacob started
"Jake, don't you go all protective on me" Cat warned
"I'm not, I just know what's out in those woods, that's all" Jacob sighed
"Oh you mean like giant wolves" Cat slipped, she covered her mouth but she'd already said it "Shit" she muttered
"How do you know that?" Jacob asked, he sounded surprised
"I, uh, well, rumours" Cat decided
"What kind of rumours?" Jacob asked
"Well, you know, those rumours about giant bears and stuff, there's, um, all different things have been thought off. You know schools, rumours are the fastest things around" Cat tried making up excuses
"Why do you think they're giant wolves?" Jacob sounded very concerned about the topic
"Uh, because, that's one of the things I heard" Cat lied
"Alright, well yes, dangerous things like that" Jacob agreed
"You obviously have no idea how good I am with animals" Cat started "So, how about the beach? In like fifteen minutes?" Cat offered, changing the subject
"Can you get here in fifteen minutes?" Jacob challenged
"Don't underestimate me Jacob Black, I will totally get there before you" Cat grinned
"I accept that challenge" Jacob laughed and they both hung up the phone. Cat was dressed in three seconds, she wore blue jeggings, her black ankle boots and an off shoulder t-shirt. She clipped her ruby heart necklace around her neck and put on her silver watch and bracelets. She left a note for her sister on her bedroom door, walked back into her room and jumped out her window. Cat flew through the forest, not even bothering to touch the branches or ground. She was at the beach within five minutes, she walked rather quickly to the spot she had first met Jacob and grinned when he wasn't there yet. She sat down and let out a sigh, looking around the beach, she checked her watch, it was only nine fifteen. The beach was completely empty, Cat liked the piece and quiet. She waited about five minutes before she felt some vibrations approaching her from behind, she noticed them to be the vibrations on one of the wolves. Cat didn't turn around or stand up, she just waited, when they were really close to her, they stopped. What happened next confused Cat so much, the four paws disappeared and were replaced with two human feet. In fact they were Jacob's feet, there was some struggling and Cat heard Jacob stumbling around behind her before he began to walk towards her. Cat sat there and pretended she didn't know he was there for a while, he was ever so quiet while walking behind her. Cat heard him sigh when he saw her there, but she could tell he was grinning, he started to sneak up to her. Cat rolled her eyes
"Sneaking up on me isn't that easy you know" she said grinning
"How did you know I was there?" Jacob asked walking around the log and plonking down next to her. Cat turned and grinned at him, he was wearing jeans and a tight t-shirt. Cat was surprised the t-shirt didn't burst, it looked so tight around all his muscles, Cat swore he had gotten buffer since she saw him yesterday.
"I heard you" Cat grinned, Jacob sighed
"And I thought I was so quiet" he grinned, Cat shrugged
"Oh well" that was when she realised that this was the first time she'd been to beach with him and he wasn't all rugged up.
"He did have a very high temperature yesterday" Cat remembered
"Aren't you cold?" Jacob asked, Cat gave him a look that told him it was a stupid question, he just shrugged
"No, I'm not, what about you?" Cat grinned
"No" he shrugged again, Cat just rolled her eyes
"How perfect, neither of us get cold easily anymore, and that's one of the best ways to get closer together" Cat frowned for a second, but didn't dowel on the matter for long. Jacob stood up
"Come on, we decided to walk, might as well start" he grinned, offering her his hand. Cat grinned and took it, they walked slowly side by side down the beach, still holding each others hands.
"So, what have you been doing since I last saw you?" Jacob asked
"As in yesterday, cause not much" Cat grinned, Jacob rolled his eyes
"No, since… when ever it was"
"Oh you mean since you and Bella started fixing the bikes?" Cat grinned, Jacob's face looked like he remembered something but he quickly covered it up.
"Yeah" he eventually said
"Well lets see, I went to school, I did homework, I went out and walked a lot, I found this really peaceful little meadow, so I spent a lot of time there. Sophie and I have been up to Seattle and Portland a lot, spent quite a bit of money" Cat grinned "Then the last three days I spent with Quil, keep my mind off Bella, seeing as she got up and left" Cat murmured the last bit but the expression she saw appear on Jacob's face told her he'd heard her anyway. "Not much otherwise" Cat shrugged, Jacob smiled at her and Cat couldn't help but smile back. She suddenly felt so comfortable with him, even after not seeing him for around four months, but what surprised Cat was that she felt even happier with him then she had before.
"What about you?" she asked, Jacob frowned, Cat sighed "Right, silly question, sorry" she grinned, they walked in silence for a little longer.
"Other then that?" Cat eventually asked, Jacob gave her a look "What?" Cat asked "You and Embry started ditching Quil and hanging out with that Sam dude or what ever, you can't tell me you didn't do anything else" Jacob sighed, "And there was the whole confusion between Bella and you when you told her you couldn't be friends and told her to go away. And then went to her to apologise" Cat remembered, Jacob looked both guilty and surprised. Cat got her phone out and showed Jacob the text Bella had sent her from that night. He read through it and breathed in deeply
"She knew how much I worried about you whether we were still talking or not" Cat muttered, Jacob swallowed, how was he meant to explain this, he couldn't, was the answer .
"Sorry" he muttered, Cat's expression softened
"Bella thought you were hiding something, something you weren't allowed to tell her…" Cat half asked and only half expected an answer. Jacob was silent, he didn't know how he would answer that question either. Eventually Jacob just shook his head
"Sorry" he said again, it was starting to kill him, lying to her like that. Cat sighed, listening to his thoughts she hadn't gotten anything on what was going on with him at the moment. However Cat knew what it was like to have something that she was scared would chase away anyone who knew about it, so she didn't push him, just in case that was how he felt. They walked for ages, Cat just gazed out at the water, she had taken her shoes and socks off already, along with rolling up her pants. The water washed over her feet every now and then, the feeling of the sand between her toes was one she hadn't felt in ages. Cat smiled at how she felt relaxed when it was Sophie's element she was with and not her own, this hardly ever happened but both girls had experienced it. Suddenly, Jacob picked Cat up and ran into the water with her, Cat was to surprised to comprehend what happened before she was dropped into the water. Cat's head broke the surface and she looked around to see Jacob standing a little way off in the water laughing at her. Cat scowled at him and the water around her bubbled a little from her annoyance
"If he knew about what I could do, I would totally make him regret that" Cat thought, she thought about making a piece of seaweed grab his ankle and pull him under.
"Aww don't make that face" he laughed
"I could shock him too" Cat thought of her electricity powers "To bad water's a good conductor" Cat stood up and decided to go with the first idea, she made sure to keep the smile off her face. A piece of seaweed grew up and wrapped itself loosely around Jacob's ankle. Cat crossed her arms and turned away from him in a pissed of manner. Jacob grinned and began to walk towards her, unfortunately for him the seaweed tightened around his ankle and he tripped over, landing face first into the water. Cat couldn't help but laugh, the seaweed immediately disappearing as Jacob turned around to see what had tripped him, he saw nothing. Cat's laughter however pulled him away from that thought as he stood back up and walked over to her. Cat playfully backed away
"You're just going to push me in again" she said
"No I'm not" Jacob grinned
"You can't say that and grin, it makes me believe you're lying" Cat informed him
"Sorry, but I promise I wont" he said, this time with a straight face. Cat thought for a minute and sighed, she still didn't believe him, but she couldn't just avoid him for to long. Jacob walked back towards her but just as he got close Cat ran through the water and back to the shore. Jacob stood there shaking his head at her, a huge grin plastid on his face. Cat started laughing at him as she began to dry off, she forgot about the fact that he might notice her clothes drying really quickly. Jacob started to walk towards her, this time she didn't flinch or run away. He picked her up and throw her over his shoulder
"Put me down" she laughed hitting his back, Jacob just laughed "Jacob Black, you let me go right now!" Cat instructed
"Or what?" Jacob asked grinning
"You do not want to go there, that's what" Cat confessed
"Sorry then" Jacob began to walk towards the drift wood they had met at with Cat over his shoulders. Cat couldn't get out of his grip no matter how much she struggled so she gave up for a while in order to think. They had been walking towards the forest, Cat decided that was why Jacob had thrown her in the water and was now carrying her away.
"What could he have against it I wonder" she thought, that was when she decided she was going to get out of Jacob's grip and head straight for the trees.
"Can you put me down now?" Cat asked "Please?" she added, Jacob sighed and stopped walking, he lowered her back down onto her feet where she sat on the sand and started putting her shoes and socks back on. The sand came off easily with a bit of hidden earth control and she was pretty much dry by now anyway. She stood back up and crossed her arms
"What?" Jacob asked
"You have to tell me what you have against nature" Cat smiled
"I don't have anything against nature" Jacob confessed
"Which is why you are so set on not going near it?" Cat mentioned, Jacob sighed
"I have nothing against the forest…" he began
"Just the things hiding in it" Cat finished
"You don't know what's in there" Jacob thought
"Animals" Cat nodded "Everyone knows that"
"It's dangerous ok" Jacob concluded
"You do realise that because you're telling me not to go in there I'm going to do just that, right?" Cat grinned
"Oh you think so do you?" Jacob raised his eyebrows
"No, see I'm not much of a thinker, that's Sophie's job" Cat grinned, she walked right past Jacob and back towards the trees. She was very calm about the whole thing and she didn't see what Jacob was worrying about.
"No, Cat please, can't we just go back down the beach?" Jacob half pleaded
"I'm not sure if you've noticed Jake," Cat grinned "But the beach is Sophie's place, I prefer the woods" she pointed to the trees "It's impossible to keep me out of there, you might as well be killing me by doing that" Cat wished she hadn't said that after seeing the expression that appeared on Jacob's face. He opened his mouth to retaliate when suddenly several howls erupted from the forest, Cat spun around to face the tree's behind her. She was suddenly hit with several vibrations, it was the wolves
"There's only four" she muttered confused "What happened to the fifth one?" more vibrations, it was another person, but not the red headed girl or the other person who had encountered Bella a while ago. Cat heard a low growl and turned to look at Jacob, he looked furious, Cat looked at him with surprise and confusion.
"Hey Cat" Jacob said suddenly
"Yeah?" she asked slowly
"I've gotta go" he confessed, Cat was confused, she wasn't sure whether this was a weird coincidence or not, but after seeing the determination in his face she sighed
"Alright, but you totally owe me" she grinned, he smiled back at her "And I'm going to hold you on that"
"I'd be surprised it you didn't" Jacob grinned and turned around, he headed in the opposite direction to the howls. As soon as he was out of sight Cat turned around and ran straight into the tree's
"This is all too weird. No way was that a coincidence that Jake has to leave the second those howls went off" Cat decided. She focussed on the vibrations for a while and connected her senses to the nature around her. The fifth wolf joined the rest, it was a lovely russet/ginger colour, it's brown eyes made Cat smile unintentionally. She saw the new victim they were chasing after, he had brown hair, pale as skin, blood red eyes and was running super fast. Cat noticed where they were and headed in that direction, this time she was going to find out what was happening. She stopped running and connected to the plants again to find out where they were, she watched the boy suddenly smile before she was pulled out of her trance by an icy, cold, hand that was holding her throat. Cat looked down at her attacker, it was the boy
"Shit, got to close" she confessed to herself
"Well, well, what have we here?" he said, his voice made Cat become very weary "A little stray kitty cat" he hissed, he lifted her off her feet and held her in the air, Cat immediately began to levitate that tiny bit to stop him from choking her. She had one hand on his wrist.
"What the hell are you?" Cat asked coldly, the smile on the boy's face vanished, he didn't like the fact that she wasn't showing any sign of fear.
"That's a bit rude" he spat
"Well humans don't run that fast, nor are they dead cold" Cat reached out and put her hand on his chest, the boy didn't even have time to react before she removed it "Not only that, but they actually have beating hearts". The smirk that played on the boys face made Cat's temperature rise, she balled one of her hands into a fist.
"Well, aren't we a clever one" he pulled her face closer to his own, still holding her in the air, or so he thought. A cruel grin played on his lips, revealing his teeth, Cat only glared at him, getting more angry by the second.
"Why aren't you suffering?" he asked
"Should I be?" Cat asked, pissing him off, he squeezed her throat a little tighter, his just caused her to get angrier. Her temperature rose so high that the boy let her go and screamed out in pain. Cat lowered back down onto the ground as the boy glared at her, as soon as she touched the ground Cat realised they were being watched by the wolves. They had completely surrounded Cat and the boy, Cat didn't worry about them leaping on her, she already knew they were after this boy. The boy looked around, also realising they weren't alone
"What's wrong?" Cat asked pretending to be curious, the boy just glared with hatred "You look kinda scared" Cat admitted
"Of what?" he growled
"Oh, nothing really, just the canines waiting to kill you" Cat shrugged, the boy lost any control he had and ran straight at Cat. Cat wasn't worrying, even with the speed he ran at her with. Thanks to her being able to manipulate light and having better eye sight then her sister, she was able to follow his movements easily. However Cat didn't have the chance to do anything for all five wolves jumped at the boy, he tried to dodge them, but the russet one seemed to have it in for him. They began to rip his limbs from his body, normally Cat might have found it gruesome, but this boy didn't even bleed. His body broke and looked like marble, he screamed quite a bit, Cat didn't really blame him for that, she just stood there and watched. She didn't move in case she got in the way and her expression didn't change. Eventually the only thing that was left of him were scattered pieces of marble like body parts. The wolves collected each piece and piled them up on top of one another. When they had done that every single wolf turned to face Cat. Cat looked at each one, her eyes landed on the russet one last, none of them moved, none of them made a sound, they all just stared at one another. Eventually Cat remembered the stinking flame she and Sophie had found that day Bella had been in that field with another cold person. The wolves had attacked it and the only thing left was a pile of flames, Cat decide that was what needed to happen next. Even though she never needed it Cat always carried a lighter on her, just in case situations like this happened. Cat could create her own flames out of nothing, but she had a feeling there was something about these wolves and it stopped her from showing them what she could do. Cat pulled her lighter out and walked towards the pile of body parts, which, unnoticed by any of them yet, had started to repair itself. Cat walked past the wolves, who were watching her, and squatted down next to the pile, the first thing she did was cover her nose, it absolutely stunk. She clicked the lighter to life and lit one of the boys fingers on fire, the entire pile erupted into flames and the smell that came off it was even worse then before it was burning. Cat immediately backed away from it, she held her breath until she decided she was far enough away and breathed in the clean air
"That's the worse thing I've ever smelt" she muttered glancing back at the pile. The wolves all glanced at one another, like they had done when Cat had first seen them at the border dividing Forks and Portland. They looked like they were having a mental conversation
"Who knows it could be true, Sophie and I do it all the time" Cat reminded herself "But they are animals…" Cat just stood there looking at the magnificent wolves, and they just stared back. She wasn't sure whether she should turn around and leave or stay till they left, for some reason leaving meant she was implying something, like she was frightened or intimidated. Unfortunately Cat didn't get a chance to decide as she felt more vibrations through the earth, she looked down at her feet.
"Can't that be all for today" Cat looked around through the tree's, she didn't see anything, but then again she didn't expect to. The vibrations seemed to be circling them, like the person was running laps around Cat, the wolves and the now dying fire. The wolves looked almost confused at the fact that Cat kept looking around her, they all sniffed the air and the horrid stench of vampire hit their noses. They all growled and looked around as well, following the stench's host with their eyes. The person slid to a holt and darted towards Cat, she crossed her arms, making an 'X' in front of her face as the person threw a punch at her. They hit her arms and Cat was pushed a few meters backwards, she didn't fall over, she just skidded. Cat dropped her arms and looked at the person, it was a female this time.
"Oh great he had a lady friend" Cat sighed, the girl had black hair and black eyes, there was only rage in her face. She ran at Cat, Cat didn't have enough time to react this time as the girl swung her leg around and kicked Cat in the side. Cat flew through the air, hit the ground and rolled for a few more meters before she eventually stopped. When she'd hit the ground there was a small earth tremor, however the wolves had already began to attack the girl to notice it. Cat coughed a bit, her side hurt, but luckily nothing was broken. She didn't look up at what was going on, she had one hand on the ground which she was feeling all the vibrations through. Four of the wolves were engaged with the girl, the fifth one however was walking over to Cat, she didn't look up as the vibrations changed just as they had done this morning. The four paws turned into two feet, there was a tiny bit of shuffling before Cat felt warm, strong arms around her. Cat looked up and saw they belonged to Jacob, he looked all out furious, but also worried.
"Are you alright?" he asked, inspecting every inch of her
"Y-yeah" Cat managed to say, she looked back at the wolves, there were only four, the russet one was missing. Jacob helped Cat stand up, but her eyes stayed on the battle that was occurring.
"The day the russet wolf appeared, Jake had told Bella they couldn't be friends. Embry and Jacob both pushed Quil away too" Cat thought "A whole bunch of howling occurs and Jacob needs to run off and go somewhere. There were only four wolves until Jacob left me, and now the russet one is gone and Jacob is … here" Cat's expression was, at first, confusion, her eyes widened a little when she came to the conclusion that Jacob was a wolf
"Werewolf? No, aren't they supposed to look half human, half wolf when they change, and don't they only change once a month during a full moon?" Cat thought "So…" she thought for a while "Shapeshifter's" she realised "Damn Sophie was right, there are others like us out there" she cursed
"You know Jake" Cat started "I think you owe me a bit of an explanation" Cat looked up at Jacob, he looked, worried, like the world was suddenly against him. Cat grinned up at him
"Oi, don't look so depressed" she knocked him lightly under the chin, he looked at her surprised. Cat's head snapped towards the girl, she had escaped the wolves some how and was heading towards Cat. Cat glared at her, she stomped her foot lightly and a root the girl was running over lifted up out of the ground, tripping her. The root lowered back down over her foot, preventing her from getting back up. The black wolf lunged at her but she kicked him with her free foot, she sat up and grabbed the root between her hands and broke it in two. Cat winced a little and didn't have time to hold her back down again as the girl got up and sped off.
"Guess she gave up" Cat shrugged almost as though she was disappointed "Lucky for her, I was seriously going to burn her" two of the wolves went after her, the silver grey and the medium brown one. The other two stayed behind and just looked at Cat, Cat sighed
"You kinda have to tell me now, if I know Jake's a shapeshifter then it's only a matter of time till I figure out who the rest of you are…" Cat thought for a minute "Wait…" she counted a few things on her fingers. She grinned
"Sam, Jared, Paul and Embry" she listed on her fingers "Plus Jacob equal's five of you. Look at that to late I figured it out" the two wolves and Jacob dropped their heads
"Come on Cat" Jacob took her hand and lead her away from them
"Aww, but I like it in here" Cat whined
"How could you feel safe here? After what just happened?" Jacob asked surprised
"Because this is my element, nothing can harm me here" Cat confessed
"Something just did" Jacob reminded her, the wolves were following them
"Do I look injured?" Cat asked, Jacob didn't answer
"Cat" Cat heard her sisters voice, she stopped and looked around, causing Jacob and the wolves to look around as well, confused
"Sophie, where are you?" Cat asked
"I'm on my way" Sophie confessed
"Why?" Cat wondered
"I felt the earth tremor, are you alright?" her sister asked concerned
"I'm fine, I'm with Jake" Cat confessed, she felt her sister land on a branch about a hundred meters away from her
"Come on Cat" Jacob half pleaded
"Oh, right, sorry" Cat began walking again, but kept looking back in Sophie's direction
"Are you alright?" Jacob asked
"Yeah, I'm fine, just thought I heard something, that's all" Cat smiled at him and stepped in tow with Jacob.
"What was the tremor from then?" Sophie asked confused
"I tripped over…" Cat lied, but made it sound like she was a little embarrassed
"In your own element?" Sophie questioned suspiciously
"I was kinda distracted you know" Cat reminded her
"Point taken" Sophie agreed
"Sorry for worrying you" Cat apologised
"That's alright" Sophie sighed
"I'll see you later ok?" Cat asked
"Alright" And Sophie hesitatingly turned around and went home. Cat let out a sigh when she felt her sister land on another branch further away, she decided the wolves wouldn't want her sister to know if they didn't even want Cat to know in the first place. Not only that but if Sophie got close to the wolves and Jacob heard her, then they might have found out about the girls secret too. They walked for about and an hour through the forest in silence, eventually the two wolves returned and walked with them, Cat could just tell they were somehow talking to one another.
"Holy shit, Jacob's a shapeshifter" The surprise finally hit her after so long. She almost stopped walking in surprised, but realised that would show everyone that something might be wrong, so she forced herself to keep walking. They exited the forest and stood in front of a small red house made out of timber, it fit in perfectly with it's surroundings. Cat looked over it for a while before she heard something coming from the house, there was someone in there. There was water rushing and the clanking of dishes. There was a wave of heat coming from the house so Cat guessed that the oven was on and cooking something, that was when she smelled cookies.
"Ooooo, cookies" Cat grinned, Jacob looked down at her surprised "So, who lives here?"
"Emily, she's Sam's fiance" Jacob answered
"Weird that I'm meeting the fiance before I meet Sam" Cat confessed
"You'll meet him too, now come on" Jacob finally smiled.
"Yes" Cat cheered randomly
"What?" Jacob asked confused
"You finally smiled" Cat grinned, Jacob sighed and rolled his eyes "Don't roll you eyes at me, you've looked so nervous and worried for the past hour" Cat crossed her arms
"Well you can't really blame me" Jacob thought, Cat sighed
"So, you going to take me in, cause I kinda can't walk in by myself" Cat reminded him
"Come on" Jacob grinned and he lead Cat into the house, still holding her hand.