I found myself half angry, half in a daze as I looked up at Jacob. He shifted slightly as he waited for my reply, leaning against the stairwall again as he watched my face hopefully.

"I don't know which of those things to yell at you for." I admitted finally.

Jacob flinched, nearly falling over as he reached out for me and changed his mind. "Yell at me? Why—"

"Jacob, you've been avoiding me for weeks."

"Because I'm a werewolf." Jacob repeated.

I simply raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, come on... I thought..." Jacob closed his eyes, trying to catch up. He opened them again and gestured at me. "I don't know how to explain this right. Bella figured it out herself and she already..."

"Well, she told me about vampires. And I was attacked by vampires." I gritted my teeth trying to keep my voice light; now wasn't the time to go back to talking about that. "So let's start with how are vampires any better than from werewolves."

"Don't you want to go somewhere more comfortable?" Jacob said. His eyes kept checking me over, trying to see if I was ok, I suppose. It was odd; it made me feel fragile and irritable, honestly.

"Not until you've convinced me that you're not going to attack me." I told him, but I had to force the words out. I had seen Edward when he first saw Bella; I had seen the hunger in James' eyes when I cut my hand. There was none of that here. There was just Jacob, wanting me to be ok again. Yet still I found myself where I had been all along, not quite able to risk it, some part of me still too weak to leave myself open. A part of me, somewhere, felt like the two of us were what? Meant to be? Still I felt I was going to ruin it. Had ruined it.

Jacob was watching me sadly, like he could read all that and he could understand. Was he remembering when I'd cut him off, last time we'd met? It seemed deeper than that.

"Genevieve—"

"What are you thinking about?" I asked before I realized he'd started.

"I... um..." He blinked at me sheepishly, yet again broken out of his thought process. "What?"

"What?"

"I was just gonna..." He studied the look on my face and shook his head. "Vampires verses werewolves?"

"Yes. Yes please."

Jacob sighed. His eyes went to the crack he'd left in Bella's door and he took a step so that he could examine it while he talked, running a hand along the splintered wood. "Vampires verses werewolves." He repeated. "That's exactly what it is, Gen."

"Meaning... you're enemies." I pursed my lips and nodded thoughtfully. "I can live with that."

Jacob's eyes squinted in a laugh as he kept talking. I kept watching him,

"The stories about the cold ones go way back in Quileute legend." Jacob told me. A couple splinters fell to the ground but he ignored them, continued picking at the crack he had made. "Just as far as the stories about the wolves. We've been enemies that long." He paused to think and I cleared my throat, still waiting to hear something that proved I could feel safe standing next to him. Jacob sighed. "It's in my blood. Passed down. To protect our people." He scowled. "Vampire gets too close to LaPush and... that's it. We start changing."

"Into werewolves." I repeated. God, my life is so messed up.

"Yes."

"And then you..."

"Kill vampires." Jacob started to say something else and then stopped as he glanced over and saw that I was mulling things over. Looking a little miserable, he started trying to open and shut Isabella's door looking more and more embarrassed each time it creaked and split a little bit more.

I watched him without really absorbing what I was seeing. I was connecting the last couple straws I'd already gotten hold of. "So Sam, Paul, Jared... Embry?"

"Yep."

I nodded, taking a seat on the steps and curling my body against my legs again. "And the Cullens?"

"As long as they don't hurt anyone we don't hurt them." Jacob grumbled, coming to sit beside me. "In Forks or LaPush or anywhere."

"Makes sense." I didn't really care about the Cullens. Except... "But Jake, the Cullens have been around for ages. Why... why now?"

"Oh..." Jake winced. "Well, the number of vampires influences how many—"

"Jacob Black, the Cullens are gone. Why. Now."

Jacob turned to look down at me, his shoulder brushing mine as he tried to get a better look at my face. "Last time you came to LaPush, with the bikes— There was... there was a vampire in the woods, I guess."

"You guess?" I choked.

"Well, I didn't get a good look at it. The pack was there." Jacob shrugged. "Paul had been keeping a good eye on you ever since... well, you know."

"What?"

"Since he tried to imprint on you and instead got you marooned in the woods with a vampire." Jacob explained, not giving me time to clarify what he was talking about; it obviously wasn't his main point. "But the first transformation... you're usually angry. And with a vampire nearby and you..." Jake smiled apologetically. "I was a little angry at you and life and... Well, I wolfed out."

"There was a vampire hanging out in LaPush?" I felt my face pale as several different scenarios presented themselves. Guilt and fear fought for a bit before I finally commented. "Jake, I don't know where Isabella is. I have no idea—"

"The other wolves will keep her safe." Jacob said simply, dismissing the fear entirely.

"Ok." And I meant it. Jake promised that freaking werewolves would protect my sister and I believed it. What. The heck. "But..."

"Gen," He started uneasily.

I looked over at him, holding his eyes as I considered things. The hallway was dark, making me feel more alone than ever. He was frowning at me, something in his brown eyes a little hurt and scared as he read my face. Was he wondering what I was going to do now that I knew? Could he see how uncertain he made me feel? Everything had been terrifying before; now I was staring up at him, imagining his warm brown eyes turning angry and vicious, wishing I didn't still want to lean in a little closer. Wishing I knew what this all was supposed to freaking mean.

"Isabella said you were dangerous." I whispered.

Jacob swallowed hard. "I am." I bit my lip, trying to seem like that wasn't the most terrifying thing he could say.

"So what?" I said quietly. "Are you still Jake? Or are you some monster I should be running from? That's gonna attack me?" That's what monsters do right? They hit and break bones and bite and laugh at my pain, grinning at me through my nightmares. And Jacob was one of them. And maybe I would be one of them. That or dead.

I closed my eyes tightly, feeling Jacob slide an arm around my shoulders. He wasn't like that, I promised myself. Jacob said he wasn't like that. He said he would protect me. And it was similar to what Paul had said... but a werewolf. I was sitting here with a werewolf. And Jake was giving me a chance but it still felt like that world, the world of monsters, was going to keep stealing—stealing him, stealing my sister, stealing until it took me too.

"Gen..." Jacob started softly, one arm tightening around my shoulder, his other hand reaching for where my own arms hugged my knees. My eyes snapped open. "Gen?"

I had pulled away, half falling down the stairs yet again as I fought off the panic of red eyes and bared teeth. "I..." Jake's eyes were so wide and sad. I couldn't tell him. I couldn't send him away. "I think I need a... a snack. This is a bit much to take in on an empty stomach."

I turned to hurry down the stairs, meaning to hide my face. Jacob laughed as he followed me.

"That figures. 'What if Gen runs away when I tell her?'" He said, presumably quoting himself. "But apparently, you just want a sandwich."

I paused as I reached the kitchen door. "You're forgetting the part where I locked myself in my room." I glanced at the stovetop clock and grimaced. Had I eaten supper? And where were Dad and Bella? For that matter, where was my phone? And now Jacob was staring at me, wondering what on earth I was doing standing in the middle of the kitchen doing nothing. "How did Bella react?"

"Oh, accused me of being a murderer, scolded me a bit..." Jacob frowned, finally slipping past me to start searching through cabinets for food. "She took it all pretty well."

"Well, her encounters with vampires have been a bit more pleasant." I said stiffly. Really, though; yet again, Isabella had discovered the truth before her twin and had kept it to herself because some boy asked it. And it had felt different, but was it? I'd thought I'd grown and she'd grown. I'd thought being a mess together had made us sisters again. Now the pit of my stomach was rolling with doubt as I thought of her secrets and Edward's secrets and Jacob's secrets, surrounding me. Who else? What else was I supposed to deal with?

I noticed that Jacob was standing still, the bag of chips dropped to the ground as he gripped the counter. My eyes widened at the look on his face.

"It's ok." Jacob assured me through gritted teeth. "Just... just hang on." He closed his eyes, jaw still clenched. "Gen, I might have to—"

"Are you alright?" He'd looked angry at first, now he looked almost in pain. I was too afraid to step closer, still aware that he was dangerous, still not knowing how. "Jake?" My voice came out a terrified whisper.

"Go... go in the other room... I'll be right there... just... just turn on a movie, ok?" Jacob tried to smile at me but the worry on my face seemed to make it worse. "Just go." He screwed his eyes up again, tighter. "Living room. Now."

"Fine." I swept away, letting irritation take over; it was much nicer to feel then fear. Following that feeling, I ignored his orders and went back to the stairs. It was about time I checked my phone and if Jacob was about to break something again I wasn't sure how close I wanted to be.

Back up in my room I picked up the phone from where I'd tossed it to find a couple missed messages and four missed calls. With a deep sigh, I checked the messages, growing even more frustrated as I discovered my dad was going to be home any minute and Cassie had asked me to hang out several hours ago. Quickly texting her an apology that I was still grounded, I jammed the buttons to find out who the heck had been calling me.

Paul.

I swore but it didn't take long for a wave of fear to almost overwhelm me. Wasn't Isabella with him-she was in LaPush, right?. And what about Billy? Or Dad—Dad had been driving up into the woods a lot lately. I swore again, telling myself that I was going to kill Paul. Of course nothing was wrong. I was going to call him and it would be a buttdial because Paul Lahote is a freaking idiot. A freaking idiot werewolf. With temper issues.

I had a sudden flash of Halloween, Paul looming over Tyler as Jared held him back. Paul looking angry. Jared muttering to him about Sam...

My phone let out a shrill ring and I tossed it across the room, screaming at the top of my lungs.

Grumbling to myself, I walked over to it. I could hear Jake laughing at me from the stairwell and it was a weird contrast to the mood I'd just walked away from until he reached the door and I saw a hint of relief in his face. I wanted to make him laugh again, I also wanted to yell at him, mostly I wanted the stupid stress on his face to go away and bring back the giant puppy I'd grown up knowing. But the phone was ringing. Crap.

I stomped over to where the phone lay in a pile of clothes, picking it up and discovering a blouse I'd been looking for for over a month.

"Hello?" I grumbled, tucking the phone between my shoulder and ear as I tried to smooth the wrinkles from the shirt I'd just found.

"I need to talk to Jacob." A voice demanded. "Now."

"Who is this?" I turned to give Jake a puzzled look, waving him off as he reached for the phone.

"Gen, what's going on?" Jacob asked, setting something down on my bed as the voice began to swear into my ear.

"Damn it, Swan. I need to-"

"Where's Paul?" I scowled, dropping the laundry back in the pile and switching on speakerphone so Jacob could hear. "Where's my sister?"

The voice buzzed loudly, sounding even more urgent as it echoed through my small attic room. "You need to give the phone to Ja-"

"You need to tell me what the f*** is going on." I snapped back. "Who is this?"

Jake stepped in here, leaning over me to get closer to the phone. "Jared, what's going on?" He looked down at my face and smiled reassuringly. It didn't reach his eyes and I didn't smile back.

"We tracked the—" Jared trailed off. "Can Gen still hear this?"

"It's fine. I imprinted." Jake shook his head at me, mouthing, 'I'll explain later.'

"We tracked the vamp to the beach and it's headed north, we think."

"That's good though, right?" Jake reached out and linked hands with me, both of us waiting for the bad news.

"It wasn't him." Jared told us hurriedly. "We chased off a female bloodsucker but Sam thinks she was drawing us off. She definitely was expecting us."

"So a vampire is after Bella?" I clarified.

Jake's hand tightened around mine. "Paul's still with her, right?"

"Yeah. He's already a wolf." Jared paused. "I should be too. Sam's on his way, Jake, but... he just left."

"My dad?"

"With Paul, I think. Jake, she was expecting us. The way she—" He stopped himself. "But the male we saw before; he's got to be up to something."

"Where do you think it's headed?" I interrupted.

He took a breath but Jake was already pulling me down the stairs before his friend replied. It wasn't a surprise to either of us when Jared answered.

"I think the vamp is headed for Gen."