(A/N): Thanks Meesh/immzw4 for your time and expertise.

Feel free to leave any comments; all of them are welcome and greatly appreciated.

"If ignorant of both your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril." –Sun Tzu

Chapter VIII

Jacob's POV

The silvery rays of the moon fought their way through the thick canopy of the trees, giving the forest ground a ghostly pale glow.

Crap. Shit. Damn. Fuck.

Here went another pair of shorts.

I still smelled her intoxicating perfume as I scrounged every last drop of willpower to gather the strength to leave her, speeding away from her in giant strides, quivering unnaturally.

Between the howling of my brothers and sister, my pack, and the echoing words of Bella, I didn't have one free brain cell to spare for my measly shorts.

May they rest in peace. They served me well enough.

One moment I was thinking of my shorts and then I was free and running on four legs.

It felt good.

Not as good as hearing her lovingly whisper those words to me.

She finally asked me, she finally understood what she felt for me.

I heard a collective groan from my pack.

"Jake, get in the game. That vampire crossed our borders once more an hour or so ago. She seems to be zigzagging all over the place," Sam informed me with a very authoritarian no nonsense tone.

"Pair up and try to push her toward the center of our patrol. Seth, form up with Jake," he ordered once more.

I saw Leah and Embry partnered, running the southernmost tip of the territory. Damn the girl could run. Embry was pushing himself hard, but he barely could keep up with her.

Jared and Paul took the region nearest to our homes. Sam wanted the oldest of his wolves near the reservation if the leech tried to head there.

Sam took the north by himself and sent Seth my way to cover the east.

All I could think of was her scent, her eyes, her beautiful lips burning with desire for me.

I heard a groan once more and tried to push her to the back of my mind for now, without great success.

I focused on the rhythmic sound of paws churning dirt and covering vast distance rapidly. I could see all of them more clearly now, eager to trap that evasive bloodsucker.

Embry and Leah were on the edge of their border already and running it, trying to get a fresher scent.

I kept going east trying to slow my pace to let Seth catch up to me.

"Jake, wait for Seth," said Sam as we felt the anxiety coming out of Seth.

I sighed, slowing a bit more but still intent on finding a track before she went around me and potentially headed for the beach, and Bella.

Distractedly, I sped up again as fear rushed over me. Bella could be in danger if that stone cold bitch slipped by us.

"Seth, cut over that creek and meet me over the ridge as I loop around to cover the beach side," I told him as I keep pushing faster to cover the last Ks.

Then the sickly odour I kept trying to find finally assaulted my nostrils, a mixture of decay and putrefaction.

I banked hard to the left to follow her trail and had to jump over a huge rock then spring myself on a tree to keep my velocity, bits of barks flying in the air as my claws raked over the century old tree.

"Jake, do not engage. Direct her toward me. Everyone converges on our position," Sam ordered us with military precision.

I realized she was trying to slip trough our paws and intended to head for the beach.

In that precise moment, all rational thought left me and I pushed harder as my claws dug farther in the ground to propel me faster then I ever thought possible.

I knew instinctively that I was disobeying my Alpha, but he hadn't used that Alpha voice to order me.

I felt Sam's disapproval, and I knew I was in for it once this was over. But it didn't matter, only one thing mattered.

Bella was on the beach heading toward my place, and that forsaken leech was nearly around us and was heading in that direction.

Bella.

Billy.

I was so distracted and worried that I didn't notice before the last fraction of a second that the foul smell I was tracking suddenly intensified and felt like a wall of putrid smoke.

In that moment, all my animal instincts took over as I glimpsed a pale ivory face framed by a fiery mane staring at me as she jumped down gracefully from a tree branch her right hand formed in a harpy claw aiming for my throat.

I dug my left hind leg hard in the ground and let myself spin and ducked my head under her razor sharp nails.

This maverick last second maneuver had two effects.

First, I spun a full 360 degrees and dug my other claws in the dirt to stop couple of meters away from her in an attack stance, teeth bared.

Secondly, I did manage to dodge out of the way of the brunt of her vicious strike, but surprise was on her side and while she might have missed my throat, she did score a powerful blow on my torso that made every bone in my body rattle.

I knew she had tweaked something badly as a numbness quickly started to spread over my front legs. It felt like a ton of brick had decided to dance a salsa with me. On one hand it did give me more momentum to spin farther away from her in my present defensive stance

But I knew I would be slower, I could feel a bit if numbness intensifying through my front legs.

Her lips curled in a predatory smile over her bared, pristine ivory teeth. She crouched lower on her legs, arms spread away from her thin body in a distinctive predatory stance.

I growled deeply, and snapped my teeth in her direction.

She stepped back a little, dancing gracefully and lithely on her feet from side to side.

I felt all of pack at once in my head, a mix of anger, fear, anxiety and a pure undulating yearning to join me. Seth was the nearest, doubling back from his course to converge on Sam and heading toward me.

But Sam was faster, gaining ground on him with each powerful stride. It would be a close call between them both.

As she danced trying to test my defences, I kept circling counter clockwise from her, keeping my distance, snapping my teeth at her to keep her at bay. She replied by swinging her claws in my direction.

She paused mid stride during one of her lunges, taking a step back, motionless, like a polished marble stone.

Her crystalline childish voice surprised me.

"I can smell her all over you, little puppy," she intoned glacially with mix of amusement and astonishment.

She seemed to think it over for a long moment; her face seemed to light up as something dawned on her,

"You're like her watch dog or something, or maybe even another lover?" she whispered playfully.

I growled menacingly.

She smiled more widely, her white pristine teeth flashing in the darkness.

It felt too crowded in my head. I focused all my attention on the leech in front of me.

The pain in my torso numbing my front legs was starting to show on my movements and she didn't miss it as she threw her head back slightly and laughed.

It sounded like a little chime bell. It raked my nerves raw.

"Oh how I will savour tearing her apart limb by limb," she murmured with a vicious smile.

I growled and sprung into action lunging toward her, teeth bared. She took a step sideways, thinking I would go past her and expose my flank but I anticipated her move and dug my claws in the dirt to change direction, keeping my momentum to crash into her.

It worked partially as my numbed front legs betrayed me slightly and I lost a lot of momentum. I managed to bump her hard on the side, sending her flying a couple of feet back, crashing into a small tree splintering it in two.

But she did manage to kick me while I flung myself into her catching me straight in the muzzle.

I tasted blood, my own, as I shook my head to fight the wave of dizziness coming over me.

She snarled at me, picking up the part of the tree, now a 6 foot long log and sent it spiralling menacingly in my direction.

I reacted in a split second and propelled myself in the air, my paws gently grazing the wood projectile and as soon as my paws touched the ground I ran toward her.

She was surprised by this and I managed to dig my teeth profoundly in her left forearm. I was aiming for her throat but she shielded herself.

As I tried to lock my jaw around her lithe arm to try and tear it away from her body, she decided that the best defense is a great offense

Inhumanly fast, she brought her right arm down in an axe-like motion aiming at my head. I jerked hard on her imprisoned arm to try and dodge her incoming blow but her speed caught me by surprise once more.

She landed her blow square on the top of my back, sending me crashing to the ground releasing my grip on her arm and all the air was expulsed out of my lungs.

"Jake hold on, I am nearly there," yelled Sam in my head.

I was aware that all of them were talking but I couldn't make sense of anything they were saying. It sounded like white noise in the background of my head.

Everything was shifting in my vision, for a moment I thought I saw twin leeches in front of me.

I managed with a Herculean effort to rise up once more on four legs, but she was coming hard for me once again.

I knew that if I tried to retreat I would be too slow and she was probably anticipating it and planned to lunge for the killing blow.

I knew at once that I had lost this fight when she incapacitated me with her surprise attack.

I knew it with certainty, but all I could think about was that I had to hold her here until my pack arrived for the sake of Bella.

So I took a page from her book and stepped into her advance, raking at her legs with my sluggish front claws, scoring deep gashes on her left thigh, but as she let out a muffle cry of anger and surprise she sent her right foot upward in a deadly arcing kick toward my flank, sending me tumbling on the ground.

I felt ribs give out as I crashed into a huge tree.

I tried to rise up once more as a weak growl escaped between my bloodied bared teeth.

My vision was getting blurry fast, but I did manage to rise up, my whole body trembling from the effort.

She did look injured, favoring her right leg looking at me with dismay.

"I will reward your arrogance by making sure she suffers even longer that I had originally planned. And there I thought I would break one heart by eating hers." She said smiling childishly.

That leech bitch was creeping me out.

She took at step forward cautiously eyeing me, coming in for the kill. I had ideas, but darkness was creeping on the edge of my vision as my body was slowly betraying me.

"You're only a bonus," she offered in a crystalline childish voice.

Then I saw a sandy coloured cannonball of fur jumping out of the darkness of the trees and interposing itself between me and her.

Seth bared his teeth at her and growled.

Victoria paused in her track, surprised.

"Seth, cover my flank don't attack her," I told him as I took a few steps forward with difficulty.

Seth threw his head back and let out a powerful howl and sidestepped a blow she threw at him.

He was quick, but not quick enough. I could see it. He managed to dodge her swipe once more but all she did was position him between her and a huge tree to try and pin him down.

"Seth, watch out," I ordered a moment too late.

Numbness was spreading all over my body and mind right now. It took all my willpower to stay conscious.

In that moment my mind saw it before it happened, I was just too slow to act. Sluggishly I tried to lunge forward to break her momentum.

But she was too fast, like a blur she managed to pin Seth with the tree and as he tried to step backward he realized his mistake and what my muffled warning meant.

Time slowed down, and Seth froze in place. She kicked him hard in the face with a sickening crunch and brought both hands down in a loud crunch sound over his back sending him sprawling to the ground with a thud and a whimper.

Time unfurled, I heard Leah screaming in my head, all of them were converging on our position less then a minute away.

Sam, like a huge shadow, seemed to appear out of nowhere and landed down over Seth protectively, baring his teeth at Victoria and swiping at her legs viciously.

She was surprised by his arrival and did manage to get out of the way of his swipes as Sam was more interested in defending Seth than anything else right now.

She snarled and looking at us in a moment she realized she was out of time and started retreating rapidly.

I took a few more steps toward her but in a moment everything went black as all my remaining willpower drained away.

The last image I saw in my mind was Bella stepping into me, her moist lips eagerly awaiting a kiss from me.