Chapter Three

Have you ever watched The Emperor's New Groove? Remember that part where Kronk, Ezma's lackey (although, between you and me, Kronk is the real star) is carrying a knocked-out Lama through the village in a bag, and he's humming his own theme music as he "sneaks" around? Well, that's kind of what I've been up to the last two hours; running through fields and jumping fences all while trying to avoid being seen. Unfortunately for me, the amusing theme music in my head is more for drowning out the 'thought-fight' going on in La Push rather than for my amusement. Shame.

At first, (I'll -reluctantly- admit) I was a little afraid of Sam Uley. He sounds imposing enough, but then getting the visual through Jared's eyes- yikes; If I thought that being a snow-white wolf was cool, it's not much compared to the midnight-black that Sam's wolf is. Then there's his size, and on top of that, there's the Alpha voice. It's too bad he's turning into quite the arsehole…

'There has to be a Quileute ancestor in her family somewhere, Jared, I wouldn't worry so much about it now.' Sam concludes the last two hours by stating that I just have to be of Native descent, and therefore, it's not an issue (his statement alone is an issue for me). But he finally seems to be bringing their little discussion to a close, at least.

'It really doesn't sound like it based on what she's told me.' Jared put his last opinion in before conceding. 'You realize that the elders are still going to have a shit-fit.'

'That's just something we will have to handle when it comes,' the alpha's thoughts then focus on me; wondering how long it will take me to get there.

Can he not see that I am running? I mean, let's get real here; supernatural wolf or not, it's 4300km! I'm going as fast as I can without being seen, Jared clarified the importance of that before you two decided to start discussing how relevant my bloodline is.

'We can talk about the why to all of that, later. For now, we need to get you to the rez safely.'

'And you might not realize this, but we can easily run at 650 miles an hour-

'Which means, you should only take about 6 hours to get here-

'Actually, only 4 hours. 4300 kilometers is only 2670 miles.'

'Fine, Jared, 4 hours.'

'What? Math is my jam!'

The amount of times I've rolled my eyes since morphing into a giant puppy is beginning to make me worry my eyeballs are going to be stuck in a perpetual loop. Can men get any more ridiculous? I've been running for about two and a half hours already, so assuming I'm heading the right way, I'll be a little over an hour still.

"Luckily, if you overshoot us, you'll just hit the ocean- just don't go over any cliffs.' Sam chuckles a bit and I get the happy visual of me pulling a Wile E. Coyote.

Thanks for that; your concern for me is touching.

'You'd probably be fine, we recover quite quickly.'

Probably, he says. Unbelievable. I shake my head to clear it of their laughter and continue running. For the next hour, I focus on what I feel; the dirt between my toes, the comforting flex of my nails as they dig into the earth before springing up again. Each motion takes a fraction of a second- and yet, I can almost extend the effect like an echo. I can taste each breath- see everything I pass by without my speed hampering the clarity. It's breathtaking.

So much of my life has been spent dreaming of this. To have been given this chance-this gift; it can't have been a mistake. Everything around me breathes when I breathe, makes sounds although it is quiet and I hear it so clearly. And beneath all of that? A perfect balance of light and dark. A spirit, capable of both great peace and immense violence- my wolf.

I won't let anyone take it from me.

'We don't want to take anything from you,' Jared tried to assure me. I want to believe him, but something tells me I can't. Perhaps it is just my ingrained distrust of others that are making me feel that way? (An answering rumble in my chest, advises me that my feelings of wariness aren't misplaced, and I know that my wolf agrees with me.)

At this point, I've had to maneuver around several large cities and I assume it's taken me a little off track (it's not easy for a- practically luminescent- white wolf to sneak through a lit-up street, I tell you).

A distant sound of waves striking rock brings my ears forward, and I slow to a four-legged jog (today is not the day that I want to audition for Warner Brothers). I reach the edge of the cliff and look around, I've never seen the ocean before, it sort-of seems anticlimactic (I guess I'm not a water person). Which way do I go?

'No problem!'

My confusion quickly abates when I hear a loud howl to my left. That's handy…

'Not as directionally challenged as you thought, eh?' Jared chortled, allowing me to catch his lame attempt at a 'Canadian joke'.

We don't actually talk like that. Despite my annoyance, I have to laugh too- it was pretty cliché. Where did Sam go?

'He went to let his imprint know that he was going to be a little while still; it was supposed to be date night.' His explanation comes with flittering pictures in my head. One woman was beautiful (even with the scar on her face), and had a very motherly smile- are those muffins she's holding? The other girl was completely radiant, she practically sparkled-

A loud growl cut off my train of thought, 'She doesn't sparkle. She glows, and she's perfect.'

Whoa, easy, have something against glitter, do you?

'Vampires, sparkle- and those bloodsuckers are our enemy.'

… He did not just say vampires. Nope, absolutely not.

My legs wobble slightly in disbelief and I barely manage to stop myself from faceplanting as I stumble down a slope of mossy rocks and wet earth (they really must get a lot of rain here). Pretending I hadn't heard the part about vampires, I have to try really hard not to panic a little when Jared's large form comes into my line of sight. Even in the dark, I can see him as clearly as I would during the day; he's gigantic.

'Yeah, that's what she said!' Jared barked, but I ignored him to continue my observations. He falls back on his haunches and holds his head high while I circle him- since I don't have a mirror handy, this is the next best thing. Jared's fur is short but very thick, and a rather lovely mix of grey and russet brown. His most identifying feature is the dark fur around his eyes- almost looks like a mask.

'You want to see what you look like?' Jared offered lightly, and I'm not going to lie, my tail may have wagged a little (a little!).

How can I do that? I question him, puzzled before I remember that I was able to look through his eyes to see Sam. I take a few paces back when he rises back to his full height, even without looking in third-person I can he's a good foot taller than me, and bulkier too. I clear my head as best I can and center my attention on Jared's thoughts.

What comes into focus makes my heart skip; a silver-white wolf. The shadows in my fur are blue like on freshly fallen snow, and its short over my body but longer around the neck (so smooth and shiny, I wish I could run my human fingers through it). My stance is confident like I was born to be in this form. I take several steps forward and notice how fluid my movements are- with no apparent effort. There's an intelligence in my olive-green eyes, that I wasn't able to see before- but the wariness, I recognize like a loyal friend.

The moonlight glimmers off of my face, and makes a very subtle facial marking ignite and it's unmistakable; although I am pure white everywhere else, under my eyes is a slight beige tinting. It made me look mournful somehow, or lost in sorrow. A reflection of my painful history. I'm beautiful.

Jared tilts his head to the side as he concedes, 'I have to admit, you look quite majestic.'

I just start to enjoy the quiet with my packmate when a rush in my subconscious tells me that the alpha has returned. There's a brief, but clear image of a lady (the one with the muffins) looking disappointed. I think its safe to assume that the feeling of annoyance from Sam, is directed at me-

'Not you, just the situation.' Sam acknowledges my hunch but assures me. 'Stuff never fails to get exciting when I try to make plans for alone time with Emily.'

I understand, but why do you need to leave her just because of me? I promise I'm not going to cause trouble- I'm used to being alone.

I hear the crunching of twigs behind Jared, and prepare myself to meet Sam up close; now that I've seen that I'm nothing to scoff at, I shouldn't be so intimidated. Right?