Laurent eyed me for a long moment, mulling over my lie and the desperate confusion I was trying to keep on my face. "Victoria's dead?"

I kept my eyes flickering from him to Jacob just as they had before. Jacob was pulling off his t-shirt and had already kicked off his shoes. Laurent seemed to be trying to decide what to feel—I pressed myself closer to the tree I sat against, hoping Laurent was more practical then caring. I hoped he'd decide owing a dead vampire a favor wasn't enough of a reason to fight. I hoped even more he wasn't about to attempt some sort of revenge. And through all of this I was feeling more and more agitated because where the hell was Sam?

"The wolves killed her." I continued. From what I could see Jacob's face was hard as stone giving nothing away. Every once in a while he glanced into the woods, looking for Sam as well—I felt my heart sink for a moment. Would Sam be a wolf? What would that look like? How much more could I be afraid of? "We were just on our way to make sure it was her but... with that red hair..."

Laurent watched me for a long moment and then he nodded slowly, accepting my words. "And she thought herself so clever." Laurent shrugged. "Ah, well." And he smiled at me, almost amused.

My own mind was fuzzy, too fearful to feel anything but sick at the absurdity of his expression and our situation. The vampire smiling at me, my werewolf standing there between us—now only in a pair of boxer shorts-, me crumpled up barefoot on the ground and starting to shiver so hard it hurt.

Sam's howl rang out, less than a mile away...

Laurent believed Victoria was dead...

Jacob was hesitating, waiting in hopes that Sam could take care of this, that we could run before he had to change in front of me. That I wouldn't be sitting two feet away from a vampire's attack.

Had I succeeded?

Sam's howl rang out again, calling for Jacob to answer. Laurent locked eyes with me, eyes so red I could see the sick color from across the ten, twenty feet away where he stood.

"I suppose if I'm going to get a snack I'd better eat it now." He commented with a shrug.

Fangs bared he jumped straight into the air, setting himself momentarily on the branches of a leafless maple before he made his leap over Jacob's head. I threw up my arms, guarding myself with the hand that had once been bitten as I let out my terror in a bloodcurdling scream.

Just as soon as I'd covered my face and screwed my eyes shut against the sight of Laurent's scarlet eyes and snarling face I realized that I could no longer see it coming: Was he about to kill me? Was he about to bite me, to change me? I heard a snarl and snapped my eyes open, desperate to know why I wasn't dead yet. But then...

"Jake." I could barely breath and I doubt even the vampire heard me say it. I'd opened my eyes to an empty field in front of me and the shreds of Jake's t-shirt and boxer shorts still whisping about in the chill of the wind. "W-wait... No... no, no..." A feeling close to agony shot through me and then I was scrambling to my feet, human eyes turning far too slowly toward the snarls and cracks happening just out of sight. My breath came back and when I finally managed to scream again it was one word; "Jake!"

It took a lifetime to see what was happening, for my brain to catch up and remember that Jacob Black wasn't just Jake anymore. Instead it was preoccupied with accusations: what did that idiot do? What if he got bitten? What if... Damn it, that idiot had better not... My thoughts trailed off into incoherence as another gust of wind shook the last bit of warmth from my body and I finally caught sight of the vampire and Jacob.

At least, I was pretty sure it was Jacob.

Edging the vampire away from the clearing where I stood was a giant brown wolf, large enough to be mistaken for that bear that my dad had been warning us about for so long. Its reddish brown color was such that it stood out from the green moss and dead brown of the trees but even so it took me a moment to understand what I was looking at and I unthinkingly took a step closer.

Even as the pain in my numb, shoeless feet told me this was a bad idea, I was cut off from going any further by a massive black form lunging into my path. A scream choking in my throat, I fell backwards and sprawled painfully across the ground: damn it, even without Laurent I was going to be too sore to even get out of this freaking forest. I locked eyes with a black wolf as I fought off yet more screams threatening to bubble up and send me into a hysterical mess. God, I wanted so much to run away, everything in me was telling me again that I was about to die even as I remembered that this was probably Sam, even as I recognized concern and annoyance as the emotions in his narrowed gaze.

The giant black wolf let out a whine, almost like a question, and stepped toward me, nudging at the air with his head as though to push me back. I blinked at him for a moment, considering absently what this meant, and then I went back to trying to look around him to see what the brown wolf and Laurent were up to—I'd heard something crash... and something was growling...

A louder growl brought my attention back to Sam.

I responded by glaring darkly at him. "What?"

He repeated his actions, nudging at the air with his nose and stepping closer so that I had to scramble backward in panic. He let out another whine, backing up again as he saw the fear on my face, overpowering my worry for Jacob as I again took in the size of the black wolf standing right in front of me. He stared calmly back, waiting for something.

I cringed when I realized this: was he waiting for me to run? But as the barks and snarls of Laurent and Jacob continued on, as time passed and Sam kept waiting calmly, my brain had time to catch up with the adrenaline. Frowning up at the black wolf, I finally nodded. He cocked his head in question.

"Go help him." I said shakily, a tiny bit of annoyance filtering through. "I'll stay here." His eyes narrowed, disbelieving. "I swear, Sam. Don't worry about me."

He took one step back, sniffed the air one last time, and then the giant midnight black wolf bounded away from where I sat shivering and covered in mud. I curled my arms around myself, watching as the black wolf moved, faster than the vampire could flee, almost faster than I could see. Sam sprinted past where the brown wolf had waited, where Jake had been simply holding Laurent in place while Sam checked on me. With one swift move, Sam had the vampire's throat in his jaws. Echoing the movement almost as though he'd known it was coming, Jacob lunged and grabbed hold of the vampires torso, clamping down with his giant fangs so that the vampire Laurent screamed in fury and I had to throw my hands over my ears. Even then I could hear the scream cut off, ripped in two as the wolfs tore Laurent apart and their claws and fangs left him in four pieces, four cracked rocks lying across the forest floor.

The vampire was dead. Their job done, the wolves turned as one to stare at me.

Sh**.

I could tell right then, I could know these boys for a hundred years, I could see Jake turn into a wolf a million times: being the focus of a giant monster will never be a comfortable feeling. Seeing these unearthly animals considering me, watching me, almost waiting for something... and only having found out they existed maybe an hour ago? I wanted nothing more than for today, for the past couple months to just be a long tortured dream that I could wake up from and start over. The wolves started to walk toward me, looking a little unsure themselves with their heads bowed slightly in front of their tall bodies and their eyes peering up at me. I closed my eyes and continued daydreaming: Bella and I friends maybe, my dad and I talking about things like college instead of whether I'd snuck out to the woods again (oops), my friends on the basketball team not having to watch me clumsily try to catch up on, Jacob... Jacob still being happy little Jacob and not the giant who'd taken his place.

"Genevieve?"

Startled, my eyes shot open and I spun wildly around to find the source of the voice. Jacob caught my arm just before my flailing smacked him the face, but he didn't laugh, just gave me a gentle smile as I looked him over with surprise. I had enough time to see that he'd pulled on his jeans again and was holding his ruined t-shirt in his free hand, that he was breathing heavily and that his hand was too warm against my wrist, that there was a tattoo on his arm just like the one I'd seen on Paul what seemed like years ago. As I took this in, Jacob must have noticed my shivering because without another word I was in his arms again, pulled onto his lap as I realized I was almost too stiff to move by myself. The cold or the wet ground had seeped into my clothes and Jacob's too hot skin felt like fire against me but I couldn't help but tuck my face against his chest anyway. I was so cold. I was still so damn scared.

"Jacob?" I managed to get out through chattering teeth.

"Yeah?"

I managed a small laugh, wondering how I could hurt so much when the freaking vamp hadn't even touched me. "I want... I want my effing shoes."

Jacob laughed but it seemed more like it was because he thought I expected it. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that, Gen."

I screwed my eyes up tight, realizing that I wasn't sure I wanted Jake to understand what I was feeling right now. I nodded, my head moving awkwardly as I found that his chin had been resting lightly against the top of my head as he curled around me, trying to warm me, trying to bring me back to myself. I couldn't think, couldn't let myself because any second now I would be freaking out again at how bizarre it was that he could feel so warm and what it meant. How could I explain that to Jacob? How could I manage that, even by myself? So I tried to hide what I felt; I focused on how cold I was, on the fact that I was getting a little bit warmer. I managed to chase everything from my mind except that Jacob was back and that I was alive and that things were going to feel better any second now.

"Genevieve..." He said again.

"Yeah, Jake?"

"I'm sorry."

But I didn't know what to say to that.

It was all I could do not to cry.