I wanted to wait up for him. I wanted him to turn around and come back as a human and I wanted us to talk about it and I wanted him to forgive me.

Actually, I wanted the Cullens not to exist. Or better yet, the wolf gene.

I didn't really know what came over me to force my feet over the threshold of my house this late at night, sprinkling rain and fog sticking my clothes to my skin, besides my fear for Jacob. I knew that it wasn't safe for me, that there was danger in the night, and not just from vampires. I shouldn't have followed the shreds of his clothes to the forest next to Charlie's house, picking them up as I walked, and I certainly shouldn't have broken through the trees in an attempt to follow Jacob. He was probably long gone by now.

But all I could see was him trembling, more fear in his eyes than I'd ever seen as he'd realized that what I'd done had pushed him over the edge. He had never had a problem with his phasing around me; any time he'd felt any kind of strong emotions, his hands had been still, strong.

I had betrayed him by talking to Edward. I had betrayed him by not talking about it with him first. I had betrayed him with my impulsivity and nosiness.

Was Jacob okay?

At first, there were tracks; the rain had broken through the trees well enough that the muddy ground held the shapes of Jake's paws pressing into it. But eventually, the tree cover thickened, not letting extra moisture through, and the tracks began to cease. I hadn't even brought a flashlight in my haste to follow him, nor had I brought a jacket. I realized I was shaking from the cold just as another image of Jacob shaking flashed through my head, and a sharp pain in my stomach brought me to my knees. My worry was making me nauseous, but none of that worry was for myself.

Was Jacob okay?

It had only been days since I had asked myself that question over and over, since the day that Jacob had turned into a wolf right in front of my eyes. The pain in my stomach began to ebb, and I wobbled to my feet, worry clouding my vision. I trudged on, tripping every once in a while, my voice silent as my heart called out for my Jacob.

I got too tired to walk, my stomach aching again, and I keeled over next to a tree, holding onto the bark to stay on my feet as I vomited up dinner. I walked another few yards and sat on the ground against a tree, reminding me of the night I'd done something similar with Edward and making me feel even sicker.

I knew before I tried twenty minutes later that I wouldn't be able to stand; I was freezing, nauseous, my body beginning to feel numb. I knew I'd made a pretty straight line into the trees from Charlie's, so if I just had the energy I might have been able to find my way back. But I didn't even want to. I deserved this, to freeze out here in the trees. I was the only one who Jacob had trusted with his heart, the one he had begged to stay with him so that things would be okay. Well, look at us now, Jake, I told him mentally, knowing he wouldn't hear me. Was Jacob okay?

"Dammit, Bella," Jacob's voice grumbled above me, and I was awake immediately, reaching out for him. I heard no other sounds and then there were hands on me, lifting me to my feet. My knees gave out multiple times before he swung me into his arms, his warmth scalding my freezing skin.

"I tried to find you," I groaned, my voice gruff and tired; had I fallen asleep or just passed out?

"I guessed that." He glanced around, finding a log to sit on and doing so. He took off my shoes, and I wondered what he was doing before he pressed his hot fingers to them, holding my toes first. "You don't have frostbite, I don't think."

I leaned my head on his warm chest, seeing he had pants on and nothing else, like usual. "Are you okay, Jacob?"

"Don't ask me that just yet," he breathed, but he kissed my forehead, and I melted into him, my arms around his chest.

"I'm so sorry," I said, sobbing without even having felt it coming. "I didn't m-mean to hurt anyone. I was j-just trying to help." I paused, pressing my cold lips to his warm chest. "It was selfish of me. I shouldn't h-have done it."

"I know, Bella, I don't blame you. I just wish…" He trailed off, and I tried not to worry about what he had been going to say. We were both mostly silent for the next few minutes while he slowly and carefully warmed up parts of me, rubbing his hands up and down my shins and then moving to my arms. The parts of me that were already touching him didn't need any further help, and I wondered how I wasn't leeching his heat and leaving both of us cold. It seemed to come from an unending source.

I had stopped crying when he spoke again, my arms tight around him and my face against his chest. "Bella," he murmured, and I kissed him before looking up, seeing his eyes pointing far away from me. "I'm sorry for the way I reacted."

"It's okay, Jake. I understand."

"It's not okay," he growled, looking down at me suddenly and taking my face in his hands. "It's not okay. I don't ever have an excuse to scream at you. It just hurt me so, so badly, thinking of you and him…"

He didn't say anymore, and I groggily straightened out, taking his hands from my face. "Me and him what?"

"Him hurting you, him touching you, him…" He freed one of his hands and gently touched my lips, and I shook my head, snatching his finger from midair and kissing it.

"You have nothing to worry about."

"I know I have nothing to worry about from your end," he said, smiling weakly at my display of affection. "But Edward."

"Yeah," I breathed, having nothing to say to that. Edward wasn't the most trustworthy guy. "I don't know what to do."

"Me either." We'd both admitted it, the fear of the unknown threatening to take us over, but Jake stood up, holding me in one arm and reaching down to grab my shoes with the other. "You need to get home, it's too cold out here."

"Are you staying?" I asked him, and he nodded, rolling his eyes.

"Of course, Bella. You think I would ever leave you?"

"You did," I said without thinking, regretting the words before I'd said them. He had left me; he'd run out of my house, fled to the woods, in his anger at me.

"Never again," he murmured, kissing my forehead and then my lips gently. I pushed him away, and he began to look hurt.

"No, my breath probably smells disgusting," I said, shaking my head. "Believe me, I want you to kiss me."

He barked a laugh, then carefully looked serious again. "My Bella," he said, shifting my weight in his arm. "I will never leave you like that again. I'll have to leave sometimes, of course, for the pack. But you'll always be my Bella and I'll always come back to you."

I felt myself tearing up again, saltwater burning my tired eyes. "Thanks, Jake. You know I'm never gunna leave you, either. I feel the same about all of that."

"Good," he said, the smile of relief on his face lifting my heart, and he carried me back to my house, strong and enduring through the coldness of the world.

The next day was Thursday, and also the morning of the last night he had been "required" to spend the night at my house; our bet was over, his three nights plus the first original one over. I tried to figure out some way to make another bet that would have him stay longer, but the look on his face when he started toward my window stopped me.

"Did you talk to Sam last night?" I asked, the inevitable hanging above us as he nodded. Sam would know about me and Edward talking. Sam would know I had trusted Edward. Would the Alpha demand that my Jacob no longer associate with me? Would he implement some rule so we could only be together when there were other wolves around us? I was sick to my stomach, watching him go, but kissed him a million times anyway, readying myself for school slowly after he was gone.

The clouds had returned to the sky, and therefore the Cullens had returned to the school. There were swarms of students standing around discussing their return as if they'd been gone months rather than one day, and I quickly dodged all of them, getting to my first period class before I could be intercepted by anyone. The buzz of conversation about them only seemed to grow stronger when I was around, and I wondered if it was only because I felt guilty or if other students were actually starting to associate me with Edward.

In second period, I kept my eyes down to avoid any unnecessary eye contact, getting to class before nearly anyone and starting to doodle on the corner of my notebook. I felt his presence as he sat next to me, his already-familiar sweet scent wafting through the air.

"Good morning, Bella," he said, nothing in his voice to indicate he was either upset in any way or that he knew about my inner turmoil. In that moment I was extremely grateful he couldn't read my mind.

Although he was good enough at reading people that it felt like he could anyway. "I suppose Jacob found out about our endeavor?"

"It wasn't an endeavor," I hissed, my heart and throat feeling thick. I couldn't cry at school. "But yeah, he did. I don't know how Sam's going to react."

"Sam doesn't seem like the type to order the boy away from you out of spite, nor can he, really," Edward noted. Of course he knew about the Alpha injunctions. "But he might try to scavenge a reason to because of our brief meeting. I told you already I was aware of the wolves' opinions of me."

"And I told you that it really is my problem, didn't I?" I asked, not sure if I had really said that specifically, but angry that Edward of all people was trying to comfort me. "Just stop whatever you're trying to accomplish by talking to me. You aren't going to make me feel better. You aren't going to make anything better. You just make things worse." I was carefully controlling the volume of my voice, but my body language was attracting some stares; I hoped no one was listening.

"I apologize," he said after several quiet, tense moments. Class began shortly after, and like usual he was the first out of his seat and out the door. I was grateful that I didn't have to spend any more time sitting with him until after lunch, when he would hopefully leave me alone, but I was still struggling to even make it through the day.

In the cafeteria, Jessica and Lauren were still upset with me, so I only had to pretend to listen to one conversation. Angela and her boyfriend Ben were planning to go hiking sometime during the weekend, and as I blinked I imagined the brown-haired vampire woman, leaping from a tree and attacking my friends alone in the woods. I began to feel nauseous, standing and excusing myself before grabbing my tray and my backpack and leaving the table.

I dumped the tray in the trash and shoved it onto the counter where the others were, racing into the bathroom and kneeling in front of a toilet so quickly I was sure I'd have bruises on my knees. I dry-heaved for several seconds before nothing came up, and I remembered I had already puked up the last of the food in my stomach last night chasing after Jacob. Of course I hadn't eaten today.

I stood shakily and started pulling my hair back into a ponytail, hating that it was sticking to my damp face with sweat, and straightened out Jacob's sweatshirt on me. It hadn't been washed since the accident, but was clean for the most part, the only signs of what happened to it being three little cuts near the sleeve of the left arm. I sighed heavily and rinsed out my dry mouth, grimacing at the metallic taste of the sink water. It was better than nothing, though, and the rough paper towel against my lips only reminded me of how perfectly soft Jacob's kisses were. When was the next time I'd have one? When was the next time I'd have him?

"Bella?" came a tinkling voice, and I flinched, recognizing it instantly. I couldn't be alone with another vampire. I hastily grabbed my backpack, moving to leave and finding the door blocked by Alice Cullen.

"Edward sent me to check on you," she said, her face surprisingly soft for someone who was forcibly trapping me in a bathroom. "He was worried."

I laughed out loud, putting my face in my hands as the laughing threatened to turn to tears. "That's funny."

"Don't be like this, Bella," she said, her sweet voice firm. "Everything's going to be okay."

"You have no way of knowing that," I snapped, hating myself immediately for mentioning her insecurity about her visions.

"I do. I don't see your future at all today after we get out of school, which means you're going to be with the wolves all night tonight again. Or one wolf in particular." She raised one brow, knowing she was right. "Isn't that about as okay as it gets for you lately?"

"Just about," I said, laughing again. I felt like I was teetering on a ledge, having to keep stopping myself from laughing fully or crying or even vomiting so I didn't fall over it.

"Sam can't order Jacob away from you. It would kill that boy. Edward should have told you that. Imprints go beyond Alpha injunctions. Once a wolf imprints on someone, they're untouchable to the pack."

I paused, considering her words. "So Sam's just been making Jacob think he can be ordered away from me? To what, scare him straight?"

"Probably something along those lines," she said, nodding. "Bella, I know you hate Edward. But he doesn't mean to hurt you. He doesn't mean to hurt anyone."

"He does a great job," I groaned, wanting to put my face in my hands again.

"I know it hasn't been easy for you. But please don't take it out on Edward – or us vampires. I promise you we're just trying to help."

"Who is in your coven?" I asked, having noticed her pause when she'd asked me not to take it out on Edward. She'd added the "or us vampires" almost hastily. She really was only protecting Edward by having this conversation with me. I wondered if he'd really asked her to come find me, or if something in his behavior had simply urged her to fix whatever I'd broken.

"Me and my mate Jasper, Edward, Carlisle and his mate Esme, and Rosalie and her mate Emmett."

"Big guy?" I asked.

She laughed, the sound like small bells. "Yes, the big guy."

"He said I was feisty," I noted absentmindedly, painful memories of the car accident flashing behind my eyes.

"You are."

I had been blankly gazing at the wall, and my eyes snapped to her golden ones in surprise. "Feisty? I sit back and let things happen to people I care about. I hurt people." I pictured the look on Jacob's trembling face as he raced away from me, my stomach plummeting and making me feel nauseous again.

"You do what you think is best to protect the people you love. It can be misguided sometimes, like talking to Edward without telling anyone. But Bella, you aren't a bad person or a bad influence on Jacob or the pack. You don't do anything to hurt them on purpose." She pondered her words for a moment, speaking again quickly. "Although, don't tell Jacob or anyone that we spoke just now. Especially about Edward. I would very much appreciate it." Then she turned and left the bathroom, skipping away toward her lunch table cheerfully.

My stomach was twisting as I analyzed our conversation, my head aching. So what did she want me to do, exactly? Just be nice to the vampires? She knew that that was why I was in so much trouble with the wolves in the first place, right?

Either way, her promise that I would be with wolves tonight powered me through the rest of my classes, and as last period began I was almost smiling, the pain in my heart subsiding for the time being. I was considering leaving class early, just so that I could get to La Push a few minutes sooner. Edward came to class after I did and sat next to me silently. He seemed to understand that my being nice to him was going to be much easier if we didn't have to speak.

About five minutes into class, Edward's hand tensed on his pencil so quickly that it snapped. Luckily, the sounds of a video our professor was playing were loud enough to keep others from noticing. Except me.

"What's wrong?" I whispered, looking at his face. His eyes were staring off, glazed, his body language rigid.

Then he unfroze. "Go to the bathroom and pull the fire alarm."

"What?" I demanded, still whispering. My heart began to pound. What was happening?

"Bella," he said, and for some reason the tone in his voice powered me out of my seat. I walked to our teacher and asked quietly to be excused to the restroom, and he nodded, letting me leave. I knew there weren't any cameras in any of the buildings, and that the empty hallways meant I wouldn't be caught. But still – wouldn't I be the first one they considered when the fire alarm suddenly rang immediately after I was excused from class?

Then I remembered the tone of Edward's voice, and I walked to an alarm on the wall whose glass casing had been broken some time last year, my fingers cold on the white lever. Just pull, Bella.

And I did.

I covered my ears before the alarm's shrieking started, racing back down the hall to our classroom, and made it to the door just in time as students began spilling out of it. Edward was one of the first, sidling up next to me and nonchalantly taking my wrist. He directed us through the growing crowds of students quickly, nearly too fast for my clumsy feet, and I realized gratefully that both of our backpacks were over his shoulder.

"What's going on?" I asked, still whispering despite the chaos we were navigating through; I knew he'd be able to hear me.

As if on cue, Alice was on my other side, walking as quickly as we were. "I had a vision. We're getting you out of here."

"Where are we going?"

"Peace offering. The La Push border."

"What?"

"Bella," Edward breathed, exasperated. "She is coming."

We found an empty classroom and Edward yanked the window open, tossing our backpacks down toward the ground. The window was facing the back of campus, away from where everyone would be gathering. "Hey!" I shouted, running toward the window. "I have like a hundred dollar calculator in there!"

But of course, he hadn't just thrown them to the ground. Rosalie and Emmett were waiting for us two floors down on the damp grass, our backpacks in their pale hands, and I wondered who had informed them amidst the chaos. Was I not the only one that had left class before everyone else had been evacuated? Perhaps Rosalie and Alice shared last period, and Alice had given the other girl the plan before I'd even pulled the alarm.

"Why are we just getting me out?" I asked, watching Alice's tiny body leap out of the window, flipping gracefully before landing on the ground with a dull thud. "What about everyone else? Won't she hurt them?"

"She's coming just for you, and she doesn't want to be seen," Edward explained. "She'll see the crowds and backtrack."

"Why is she coming for me?" I asked, my voice weak; Edward noticed and sighed, walking to me and putting one hand on my shoulder in a gesture of comfort that maintained distance.

"We won't let her hurt you, Bella. Now, come here." He beckoned me closer to the window, and I started shaking my head before I'd taken a step.

"No way. I'm not jumping out of that."

"You don't have to. I'm jumping with you."

"What?" I asked, and he swept me up in his arms knowing if we waited much longer I'd put up a fight; and in a millisecond, he had mirrored Alice and leapt from the window. I clung to his cold, statuesque body tightly as we fell, and then we were on the ground by the other vampires, Edward releasing me and letting my feet rest on the ground.

I was dizzy, holding onto his arm so I didn't fall, and Emmett regarded us curiously. "Is she gunna pass out?"

"She'll be fine," Edward said, taking advantage of my hand on him and sliding his arm around my waist, guiding me forward toward the parking lot. "We need to get her there fast, or the wolves will think we're starting a war."

"Over me?" I murmured, fighting what I knew was an unreasonable anxiety about seeing the wolves for the first time after they'd all found out about my talking to Edward. Better yet, I was going to show up with that same vampire I'd been a traitor with. Just minutes ago, hadn't I been excited to go to La Push?

Yeah, by myself.

"Alice, call them," Edward ordered, opening the Volvo's front passenger door and motioning for me to get inside. I did so, knowing better than to try to fight him physically after him kidnapping me out the window. "Let Sam know we come in peace, we saved her."

"Saved me?" I asked just as he closed the door, and in a millisecond he was in the driver's seat, the engine roaring to life as Alice climbed into the back behind us. "What the heck happened?"

He seemed to think the worst was over as Alice dialed a number quickly, and sighed. "I read in Alice's mind a vision of you leaving class early, and the woman intercepting you before we were able to catch her. She was quick." The finality in his tone suggested that she had been quick with something unpleasant, perhaps my death, and I didn't ask.

"How would she know that I was leaving class early? And how would she have gotten to me without you knowing?"

He sighed again. The Volvo was flying down the road, and I was almost waiting for Charlie to pull out behind us, sirens blaring. We remained unfollowed, however.

"The other vampires she is working with are gifted in different ways than us. One, in particular, is able to project teleportation onto her. That's how she appeared in front of Jacob's car, how she so narrowly escaped Jacob in the woods, how she keeps evading capture. The teleporter has to be within a certain range of her to move her, and can only do it within that range in whatever direction. He's the center, and she is the fishing line that he's casting out, searching for you. Another vampire is somewhat of a GPS, able to sense your location. He would have known you left class."

"Why me?" I asked, my voice a nervous croak.

"She wants to get back at the wolves, in a way," he said, his expression grim. He didn't elaborate further, and I pushed it, knowing I would regret my decision as soon as he spoke next.

"In what way?" I demanded, my heart pounding in my chest. Kill me? What could be worse?

Just in time, Edward slammed on the breaks and turned the steering wheel, shrieking to a sideways halt several miles from the middle of the reservation. We were banked by trees, and wolves leapt from them at our approach. I spotted the russet one immediately, my palms sweating. Why were they all in wolf form?

Edward stayed very still, his gaze moving from wolf to wolf quickly. My door was on the side facing them, and I started to open it, nervously moving to unbuckle my seatbelt and realizing I'd never put one on. Great. Edward's insane driving could have killed me before the vampire woman did.

"We brought her here safely. We mean no harm to any of you, nor to her." Alice's voice was small behind me, and I figured she had likely finished her phone call in the time Edward had been speaking. How fast did the wolves work?

I realized in a second that I definitely had not heard her speak the whole way here, regardless of how scattered my mind was. Sam hadn't answered her. The wolves somehow knew about the kidnapping, but didn't necessarily know the reason. It was likely they had no idea why I was in the car with these two vampires, choosing them over the wolves yet again.

I clambered out onto the pavement and froze after that, not sure what to do or say. "The woman came after me," I said, my voice weak. "She was going to come to my school and… hurt me."

"We got her out," Alice said, standing very close to my side. Maybe for her own protection. She couldn't see visions of the wolves, wouldn't have a very sure way of knowing whether they were going to attack her. "We took Bella without giving her a choice. We had no intentions but to bring her to you. She isn't to blame."

I almost sagged in relief. I was off the hook.

But worry still gnawed at me. Were the wolves going to hurt the vampires? The people who had saved me?

Half of me screamed that they weren't really people, and I heard Jacob's voice in my head, calling them leeches and bloodsuckers. The other half, however, remembered Alice's kindness in the bathroom, her loving protection of her brother and both hers and Edward's selfless rescue of me.

No, they were people. And I didn't want them to get hurt.

Edward was the last out of the car, and he circled it slowly, coming to rest on my other side. I stepped forward, and the vampires stayed behind me; I remembered that they weren't allowed on the reservation, and I imagined that they were right at the line. That was why Edward had come to such a screeching halt. They were close to bending the rules in more ways than one.

I continued stepping forward, seeing Jacob's slight shift in my direction as I did so; my pounding heart beat faster, and I tried to run to him, stepping on a shoelace I hadn't known was untied. Of course, the fastest person in the vicinity shot forward to catch me from falling, likely just to keep me from spilling my blood and causing a frenzy. However, another rescue of me did not happen to be in Edward's best interest, considering he had to move over the line into La Push to accomplish it.

It was like someone had shot a gun, and a race commenced. Edward righted me and tried to run back to the line, but Jacob was faster and had been waiting for his slipup, leaping forward and snatching the vampire between his teeth. He flung Edward into a tree, which shuddered, snapping in several places. The other wolves all shot toward Alice, surely having come to aid her brother, and she on the other hand expected them, flying into the air over the Volvo and having never crossed the line. She couldn't be touched unless the wolves really did want to start a war.

Edward, however, could be touched. He was in full wolf territory now, and Jacob's hackles were raised, the huge russet wolf crouched defensively in the direction of the vampire boy, his expensive jacket torn and his stylishly messy hair now just a mess. I had a feeling, judging by the look on his face, that he was not caught off guard very often.

"Jacob!" I tried to scream, moving toward him and Edward; a silver wolf jumped in front of me, blocking me from the duo. "Jacob!" I screeched again, fighting tears and more dizziness. "He didn't do anything wrong! Don't start a war for this! They saved me!"

Growls were sounding from all directions, two of them sounding much like they could be coming from Edward and Alice, but all I could see was Jacob, as much of him that was visible behind Paul's hulking mass. "She was going to hurt me! Tell them, tell them Edward," I pleaded, tears spilling down my cheeks. "Jacob, don't!"

"That woman has many gifted people working with her," Edward began as he had with me, and a snarl erupted from Jacob's jaws, probably an order for silence as they began circling each other. Edward knew better than to let himself be led into the other wolves, and instead of moving toward them he was moving into the trees, trying to get back behind the line. Although I knew at this point that that wouldn't save him. "One can teleport her – that's how she's avoiding you. She has plans to come after Bella."

There was a pause, and an exasperated sigh. I could no longer see Edward at all behind the silver wolf. "I can read it in her mind and Alice's visions. I can read all minds. I can read yours right now, and I'm telling the truth."

I was glad he left my mind out of it, but I still was shaking and terrified, considering sliding under Paul to get to my Jacob and Edward. There were more snarls, and I wanted to see what the other wolves were doing, but was too set on seeing the conversation hidden from me.

"We won't save her fighting like this," Edward said, and he almost sounded scolding. Great plan. "We need to figure it out together. We need to find ways to protect her."

Another pause. "That woman, when she gets her hands on Bella – it's not going to be pretty," he said. I could sense in his voice that same hesitation, that same suggestion he didn't want to say aloud what she had planned. What could it be, that she would be quick with? What was so dangerous for me that wasn't just killing me?

I pieced it together just as the words left Edward's mouth. "She's going to turn Bella."