A/N: Hullo! First attempt at a longer fanfiction (as in, more than 3 chapters . . . *sweats a little*) I was reading some Wolf!Bella fics and decided that I wanted to write my own. Not sure about pairings - will probably decide later - and pretty sure I screwed up some characters 'cuz I wrote this before I looked at the wiki pages. Aaaaaaanyways, long story short, AU and OOC and LANGUAGE and haven't read the Twilight books in forever. *cries*

Sorry . . . please enjoy. And review. I need to know what I'm doing wrong, after all. XD

AAAAH! Wait! Update! Disclaimer: I own nothing, don't sue me, even my kidney(s) is worthless.

Muscles rippling, cords of flesh bursting under ivory skin, which was disappearing underneath sprouts of dark fuzz. Soft and fine, then sleek and coarse, shades of dark browns and black, covering the squirming skin and cracking bone. My face was breaking, nose pushing forward and teeth sharpening.

All of this occurred in a second, in mid-stride.

Mid-stride?

You're running.

In the woods, too. The woods that were filled with green, green, green, and not enough brown. The woods that he had once carried me through. The woods that were filled with bears that hunters ran from. The woods Charlie banned me from.

Yep. Those woods. That meadow.

Laurent.

My eyes widened a fraction. That slimy leech tried to KILL me!

Leech? Like, the . . . oh. Blood-sucking leeches, blood-sucking vampires. Yeah, that makes sense. But I've never called Edward a leech. It seemed . . . I dunno, rude. Scratch that, it WAS rude. Why did I think that? And why was I running?

Laurent. he whispered again. I hadn't noticed the first time - he seemed as much a part of me as anything. Everything.

Run faster, he begged, Don't let him catch you. Don't do anything stupid.

Like stop, I supposed he meant. I almost did. Funny, really. I didn't think there was anything resembling self-preservation in me anymore. When he left, he took that too. All I had - Have, remember? Still alive. - was his.

But I kept running anyways. It was the first time in a long, long time that I felt okay. Good, maybe. The pumping blood in my legs, the wind against my hair, the easy grace (Oh, that's new for sure.) with which I navigated the woods. Trees rushed by me in blurs, the damp soil soft underneath padded feet, the whipping wind cold and refreshing against a lolling tongue.

Sweet.

Sickly sweet, like acid, like bleach, biting at my senses. Something rumbled in my throat, some sort of thunder ripping from snarling lips. The freedom I felt, the goodness of running, was smothered with a steady aggression. I was finally feeling a little better, and Laurent had to ruin it. I wanted to turn around and punch that stupid Laurent in his stupid sparkly face. First James was after me, now his friend? The one who tried to get me to run from said psychotic vampire hunter in the first place? WHY?

The more I thought about it, the angrier I got.

Please be reasonable, the other vampire with me pleaded, Just run away. You can outrun him.

Sure I can. A human outrunning a vampire, why not?

Human?

But instincts took over forethought, and my feet skid in the dirt, spraying clumps of rock and mud as I faced the vampire himself.

Beautiful, deadly, unabashed. Not a hair out of place, and he'd just chased me 4 miles uphill. I, on the other hand, was panting for breath, lungs heaving with the pleasant burn of exercise. Even with the adrenaline in my veins, I lowered my head and snarled at this sickly sweet monster that managed to make "puzzled" a work of art.

"How interesting." he said pleasantly, "So we are not the only monsters in this world, hm?"

I smiled with all the false bravado I could. I didn't want to be afraid of him. He could 't be worse than James. And maybe . . . maybe if I died, I wouldn't have to hear him anymore, knowing he didn't want me.

Bite me, Laurent. I hissed. Best thing I could pull without cussing.

Whoops. Not the best thing to say. He really was going to bite me, after all.

He seemed amused though, which only enraged me more. He raised a perfect brow and smiled a perfect smile. "How mysterious . . . I've heard legends, of course . . . but even as a beast, your blood . . . I suppose there's nothing for it, Miss Isabella Swan. I've always wanted to drink werewolf blood, you know."

Werewolf?

My instincts registered the moment he moved, the intent to kill me that he moved with, but my mind went numb. Padded paws with black nails, digging into the dirt. A muscled body heaving with warm breath and covered in sleek, dark fur. Pointed ears, listening to the slightest flutter of insect wings, the snapping of raindrops against the crisp leaves, the shift in weight as Lawrence walked towards me. My senses were heightened and my mind was stopped.

Wolf.

Beast.

Laurent's hands ripped into my right side, my canine body's instincts kicking in only in time to keep his clawed fingers from my lungs. One exchange and I was already bleeding, steaming blood pouring from the gaping wound, matting the dark fur. It burned, and I screamed, and the wolf that was me howled.

WHAT'S GOING ON? WHAT AM I? IT HURTS! HELP ME!

Who is this? What's going-

Laurent looked surprised at the fact that he didn't kill me. I whined, backing away. All bravado, all confidence, false or not, was gone. It was burning, my side was twisting in on itself, and the blood wouldn't stop. He tried to grab at my neck but I dashed out of the way. Again he lunged, and I ran - his hands missed me by millimeters. It was a demented, bloody dance. The beast and the red-eyed monster.

I'm going to die and I'm a monster.

Who the bloody fuck is this?

Paul, what-

Blood everywhere, and Laurent paused our dance to bend down and smear my blood onto his elegant fingers. He tasted it, tentatively, and grinned. My eyes didn't register the shiver that passed up his body, but I heard it.

"Wonderful." he said.

OH GOD, I'm going to die. He's going to drink me dry, someone, please . . .

Someone get out there and SAVE THIS GUY DAMMIT-

Where are you? We'll come and-

-WHO are you-

SHUDDUP PAUL. TELL US WHERE YOU ARE AND WE WILL HELP YOU.

That voice. It was . . . warm. Familiar. Edward's voice was familiar, but it wasn't warm. It made me hurt. And these other voices, I didn't know them. Maybe they weren't as bad as Laurent's, but I didn't think twice before dismissing them as my own insanity. But that one, the one that promised help . . . I knew it.

Woods, my mind whispered, Northeast of Forks, past the big meadow. Please, please be real. Oh my god, it hurts . . .

There was a surge of anger as the voices realized I was bleeding badly. There was an influx of protectiveness and panic as they realized I was not strong enough to run away, just barely avoid Laurent's attacks. I felt another gash rip into my left shoulder before I could think about them anymore.

Laurent had greed in his eyes as he licked at his crimson hand.

Glad to know I tasted nice.

Hold on. We're almost there.

I can't. It hurts . . . I'm so tired . . .

Don't you fucking give up, pup. You damn well better start running south.

I can't run . . . La Push is that way, they'll see me . . . they'll run . . . I-I'm not human. I'm not . . . I'm . . . monster . . .

Nothing as bad as the thing you're fighting. Come on, newbie-

NO. Don't turn tail on him. Defend. Focus. We're here.

Even before three gigantic wolves sprung from the trees, I knew they were here. I saw through their eyes: a man, pale and deadly, crouched in front of a small (smaller than they were, at least) dark wolf - a whimpering young beast, bleeding heavily and whining softly. They rushed to its aid, growling menacingly with bloodlust in their howls, and leapt to their younger brother's (sister's, I supposed vaguely) side.

Two other wolves flanked the main three. The leader - Alpha, someone corrected - was the biggest, fur black and snarls ripping from his throat. He launched himself into attack, the other two - a dark grey one and a russet-brown one - split to surround Laurent. He slipped from their attack, as I expected.

What I didn't expect was the fear.

The leech should be afraid of us. snorted one of the other two wolves pressing up against her bleeding, heaving sides in comfort, Bastard thought he could hurt our new . . . uh, sister, he has another thing coming.

That wolf was bigger than the other, a mix of black and very dark brown. The other, a paler brown with black streaks and ears, nuzzled my whimpering . . . muzzle? Was that the word? Muzzle. He quieted me, warm breath snorted from his nose like mist in the frigid air.

Sam, Paul, and Jake'll give him hell for you - don't worry about that. said the nuzzling wolf gently; and, as an afterthought, Jake especially. You are Bella, right? Bella Swan?

What? Jake as in . . . as in Jake? My Jacob?

A surge of protectiveness. I saw out of some wolf's eyes as Laurent fled and the three gave chase. This was . . . the Alpha's point of view, I thought. The reddish wolf on his right charged ahead - Bloodsucking bastard, trying to kill MY Bells, I'll rip you into pieces! - and the other, dark grey matched his pace. They were trying to surround him, I realized. But that'd be hard without all five of them . . .

I heard myself whine at the two with me.

Will they be okay? Who's with Jake? Who are you? I feel like I should know- OW! Ow, stop!

EMBRY YOU FUCKER DON'T HURT HER! roared the voice in my head that I now recognized as Jacob. Sunny, smiling Jacob - currently cursing the black-eared wolf on my right while simultaneously trying to kill Laurent. I wasn't the only one to realize this.

Focus on the hunt, Jacob. ordered a solemn voice - the Alpha, I knew somehow.

This is hard enough with only three, idiot. Kill the leech, then you can bite Embry's head off. sneered the dark grey wolf with him.

Embry, for his part, was licking one of my wounds that had (Already?) scabbed over. It stung and started bleeding again, covering his snout in crimson. He looked at me, ears pressed to his skull and looking as apologetic as a giant mutant wolf could.

That comment elicited a bark of laughter from the other wolf with me, the brown and black, who was promptly snapped at to shut up by the black Alpha. Those three started muttering orders and projecting points of view, their main focus on killing Laurent now - difficult with only three. Their coordination became background noise as Embry and the other wolf spoke to me gently.

Hey, little sister. he greeted, following Embry's example of wolfie medicare; his foreleg rose and put a gentle pressure on my shoulder, encouraging me to lay on my stomach. I settled with my head on my paws, Embry nestling close and cleaning more wounds - it stung but I trusted that they knew what they were doing.

Soon both sides of me were stinging with newly opened wounds, two wolves focusing on cleaning me up and unmatting the dark fur. I heard a few telltale CRACK!s of my ribs, one collarbone, and my hindleg - but after they were seemingly shifted into their proper places, they started to heal.

I'm Jared. You're Bella, yeah? the brown-black said in my head.

Y-yeah. Um . . . I hate to ask, but what's going on?

We're cleaning your wounds. Jake said you hadn't been getting sick or anything, meaning you're still susceptible to infection. Happened to Paul, too - the sudden, outta nowhere change. Embry explained, batting one of my ears playfully with his paw.

I was grateful for a semblance of normalcy. Suddenly being a huge wolf, then finding out Jacob was also a wolf, the watching through some weird mind reading thing as he hunted down a vampire while Embry and Jared licked me clean - another bought of laughter from Embry here, along with an appreciative chuckle from Jared and a snort from Paul (the dark grey, I was told) - it was a lot to take in. Embry being his teasing self was nice. Jacob being his protective self was nice too, even if it was . . . violent. Much more so than I knew; looking into people's heads brought up new truths, I guess.

You got that right. agreed Paul distantly, I know waaaaaay too much about Emily and Kim than I wanna.

A fit of annoyance from Jared and Sam (the Alpha, I figured, from process of elimination), along with a general feeling of agreement from Embry and Jacob. Then two girls showed up in my head, gazed at lovingly - almost reverently - one being older and scarred, but still pretty, the other younger and a bit shyer-looking, but also pretty. Quilete, both of them. And finally, a surge of protectiveness of the two, and a renewed fervor to hunt down Laurent and prevent him from harming either girl - the way he'd harmed me.

Um. Okay. Embry . . . can you explain what's really going on now?

Ah. The wolf thing?

No, the process of photosynthesis. YES THE WOLF THING.

He visibly winced at the volume my thoughts were raised to, but he gave a good natured laugh and I felt the amusement of the other wolves - especially Paul's. I felt that Jake and Paul would love to join in, but Sam was having them focus on Lawrence. They were halfway to Canada, having zig-zagged over every inch of the woods up to now. Laurent was being tricky; he evaded Paul for the fourth time, and this time, Paul's irritation was loud and clear:

AAAAGHHH! This motherfucker! Where is he going?

Alaska, probably. I thought absentmindedly, He was there with the Denali coven for a bit. I think he liked . . . um, Irina? Yeah, Irina.

Sam perked up at the information. How do you know, pup?

I tried my hand (mind?) out at this thought sharing thing. Snippets of information from his conversation with me before I turned into a friggin wolf were accompanied by memories of the Cullens. My heart seized up in pain when his face or voice popped up inevitably, but the information got across. I could feel the disgust for my . . . well, relationship; but I could also feel a gleam of understanding (the tiniest bit), and a lot of outrage at Edward for . . . for what he did to me. What he was still doing to me. The pain felt muted now, but that might've been the fact that I was bleeding. And that was real pain.

And all of a sudden I felt faint. And my vision blurred.

FUCK. was the general consensus as black spots pulsed around the scenery my eye were taking in.

The leech must've gotten a major artery - Bella, roll on your back so we can see where. urged Jared, his snout bloody and nudging my shoulder.

Spirits help us, he got her chest. Embry whispered in horror.

THAT LEECH GOT HER HEART? screamed Jacob; I saw, groggily, as anger fueled his limbs and he managed one last sprint to clamp his jaws around a shrieking Laurent. Silvery stuff spilled out of marble skin, where blood should be pouring. Paul and Sam lunged in on the fun, shaking their heads ferociously and tearing a doomed vampire into little pieces. All the while, Jared and Embry though appreciative of the sight, were panicking over my torn chest.

Don't worry so much, Jake . . . you'll get white hairs. Not so nice with how red you are . . . Concentrate on not getting killed, please.

She didn't notice - he shredded her good. Jared assessed gravely, starting in on putting pressure on my wound by leaning on my aching heart (CRACK! CRACK CRACK!) with his front legs.

I screamed in pain as I felt my still-fragile ribs breaking under Jared's weigh. Embry sent a stab of sympathy, but determination; he began to clean desperately, trying to gauge the true damage done to my wolf body: from the grimness in his thoughts and the fear in his posture, it didn't look good.

At least I didn't get bitten this time, I muttered faintly.

THIS time? asked Paul in horror, at the same time as Sam's, Hold on, pup- Bella. and Jacob's desperate yelling of my name and various curses.

Later, I managed to answer Paul, at least, as I passed out.