"Oh no." I state.

"Oh yes." Jayden argues.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Sophia, yes! Just jump already!" Jayden says with a laugh.

"No way! You told me it was just a small cliff with a small waterfall! This thing is huge!" I shout as I look down the thousand foot fall... Okay, it isn't that far but it is a lot steeper than I was expecting.

Somehow, Vince and Lexi convinced me to come cliff jumping with them. Obviously it wasn't just the two of them who were going, but they both wanted Jayden and me to tag along. I was all for it, you know to watch and see if Lexi and Vince were making any progress in bandaging up their relationship. Now though, I regret it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not scared of heights, but I am scared of dying. I feel like this could easily kill me! Lexi, Vince and some other football players already took the leap of faith and made it out okay but that still doesn't help my conscience. I just really don't feel like dying today.

"Sophie, come on! It is fun, you will want to do it again and again after."

"No way." I peer over the edge and chills fly through my body. I quickly turn to Jayden and shake my head, "I can't do it."

"Sure you can! It is fun, don't you trust me?"

"I trust you, yes. But I also want to live a long life!"

"Sophia are you going to jump on your own or no?" He asks.

"Let's see..." I pretend to ponder for a moment, "I'm not doing it." I say, and start to walk away from the edge, then I hits me, "Wait, what do you mean jump on my own-"

Suddenly I'm scooped up in Jayden's arms and the next second I feel like I'm free falling. Jayden lets go of me half way down and I scream bloody murder until I hit the surface of the water and plummet down a couple of feet. Quickly, I swim up to the surface and gasp for air.

Opening my eyes I look over at a smirking Jayden, "What the hell!" I shout.

He laughs and reaches out to ruffle my hair, "See, it wasn't as bad as you thought, was it?" He asks.

I frown but realize he is right. I just can't give him the satisfaction right now, I'm mad at him! I turn away from him with a huff and swim to shore.

"Sophie! Come on! I'm sorry!" He says apologetically in my wake but still laughing like a fool.

Oh he is going to have to do a lot more sucking up than just that apology for my forgiveness! Leaving him behind, I walk up to where Lexi is. She smiles as I approach the grassy area that is shaded by trees.

"So you did end up jumping! Took you long enough." She says.

"I wasn't going to do it but Jayden tossed me in..."

She laughs and adds, almost reading my mind, "So is he getting the cold shoulder?" I nod, "But you enjoyed it didn't you?"

I sigh, "Maybe a tiny bit..."

She giggles and laces her arm through my own. Leading me away from the waterfall, we walk down a path and right up to a tree. Most of its branches are loaded with towels that we left so we could dry after jumping. Reaching out, I scoop up my hot pink towel. Lexi releases my arm.

Drying off as much as possible, I quickly wring water from my hair and wrap my towel around myself. Its a little chilly to be doing this, but hey, we are young.

"You know this place is really cool, how come you never told me it was here?"

"That's because you haven't been living here that long you goof! We haven't had time to do any fun adventuring."

I give her my best pouting face and glance down at my feet.

"Oh cheer up Soph! You're here now!" She says happily while slapping my back in an uplifting manor.

I roll my eyes, "You're always an optimist."

"And you're always a pessimist!"

I raise my pointer finger up and stop her,"Realist. I am a realist, not a pessimist."

She shakes her head, "What's the difference."

Letting out an annoyed grunt, I simply answer her question, "Well you see, a pessimist always looks at the bad side of everything while a realist, like myself, always-"

I'm quickly cut off by someone bumping into me and running toward the group of football boys.

"Sorry!" they shout without looking back.

"Well that was rude." I mumble.

"I wonder what the commotion is over there." Lexi states.

We try to glance past the group of swarming boys but it is really hard to see what is happening. The way the boys are crowded, it almost looks as if someone dug up treasure, or someone is in the middle of a fight. Unfortunately, curiosity gets the best of both of us. What can we say, we are two nosy girls just trying to uncover every ounce of gossip we can get our hands on. Making our way over to the group, I push my way through the football boys and see a spectacle I was not expecting.

Ashley.

She is giggling while being praised by all the boys. It is rather annoying, but personally I don't want to involve myself with her again. As I try to slip back into the pack of boys unnoticed, Ashley's eyes flash onto me, holding me in place. Great, the bitch saw me.

"Well if it isn't the precious Sophia Hail. Are you sure jumping off this cliff isn't too dangerous for you? Do you need me to send the whole pack to come rescue you?"

The boys surrounding us get silent and begin to listen to our exchange. Just lovely, we get to have spectators watch our little reunion. This should be interesting.

"Oh Ashley, it's so nice to see you. I've missed you and you're hilarious jokes. They crack me up every time! I forgot how much of comedian you were. Remind me why we aren't friends?" I retort.

She rolls her eyes and adds, "We obviously aren't friends because you tried stealing my boyfriend and because you're a conniving bitch."

"Stole? I'm sorry, but he never wanted you in the first place." I snap. She is hitting a sweet spot.

"You keep telling yourself that. Jayden always told me how much he loved me. The only reason why he left is because he felt sorry for you because you are such an under dog."

He told her he loved her? That has to be a lie, he wouldn't do that, especially since he told me that he only dated her because of his dad. She is just trying to push my buttons. I feel the hot blood pump angrily through my body and I can feel the need to change and rip her face off grow more intense.

"Aw, it looks like our little half breed hasn't learned to control her animalistic side yet." Ashely takes a step forward and ruffles my hair, "Just relax and take deep breaths hun, you will calm down eventually. Now, where is my boy toy- I mean your mate?"

That is the last straw. I slap her hand away from my head and slam my hands hard against her shoulders, knocking her back a few feet. She falls onto her butt with a thud and lets out a vicious growl.

Simultaneously we shift into our wolves. Her into her larger than normal wolf and me into my slightly smaller wolf. Honestly I'm so mad at this point that size doesn't matter. My blood boils in my body and I strike for her neck.

"Sophie!" I hear Lexi scream in the background but I don't care. This bitch needs a piece of my mind.

Ashley dodges my move by jumping to the left. She turns to kick me with her back legs. Swiftly, instead of dodging, I latch my teeth onto her heel and squeeze my jaw. A loud yelp fills the woods. I quickly let go but then I hear the sound of ripping clothes. Before I can even see what is happening, a dark cloud of wolves covers my vision and I am now at the bottom of a huge pig pile.

Pressure begins to build and my breathing gets heavy. The weight of all the bodies on top of me is starting to crush my bones. I try to push against their weight but nothing helps. Shit! Why did all the football boys just shift and pounce on me?

"Enough!" A huge authoritative voice echoes through the woods.

Shivers roll through my body, but in a pleasing way. The weight on top of me slowly starts to dissipate and soon I can see the light again. I suck in air and feel relieved that my lungs are still functioning. My eyes look up and lock with two emerald ones. He looks pissed.

I feel my body drop lower to the ground, trying to hide from his disappointed eyes. Oh boy, he is mad at me. I lower my head to the floor and look down. Great, I thought I was supposed to be mad at him and now it's the other way around. How did it turn out like this? Oh that's right. Ashley.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jayden hisses toward everyone. He glares at Lexi and she looks down scared. "Lexi?"

"Um..." She digs her foot into the ground nervously.

"Spit it out." he demands.

"Ashely came out of no where and started teasing Sophie, and in standing up for herself Sophie push Ashley, then they shifted and started to fight. When Sophie started to win all the boys turned on Sophie and ambushed her."

Jayden runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head angrily. He glares at Ashley and she whimpers and looks down at her bleeding ankle. Did I do that? I smirk to myself, damn with our size difference you wouldn't think I would win.

"Vince get over here!" He shouts then turns back to the bitch. "Ashley I want you to go back to the pack house and get that treated. I'm disappointed in you, and as the Beta's daughter you should act with more respect than that."

Ha! That will show her. Good way to put it Jayden; and to think she thought that Jayden loved her. Pathetic.

Vince sprints over and sees that basically everyone is in wolf form. Confusion crosses his features and he looks lost. I don't blame him, this is a really weird sight to come by.

"What happened?" he asks.

"I will tell you later. For now I want you to take Ashley back to the pack doctor and get her wound tended to. As for the rest of you. Shift back and go home. We are done here." He barks.

Everyone listens, even Lexi. Vince throws a towel over Ashely and she shifts back. He carries her toward the pack house. Then there is no sound, it's absolutely silent in this woods. Once everyone leaves I look back at Jayden to see him glaring at me. Oops. He looks mad.

"What the hell Sophia?" he shouts, and for once in my life I feel scared around him. His anger rolls off his voice in flares. "Shift back." he says as he walks over to me.

Our eyes stay connected but my body freezes in fear. He is so angry that I can feel the heat from his body. His eyes are switching between emerald and black and I know he is fighting his wolf.

"Shift." he demands one more time. "Now."

I give in to his wishes and my body slumps as it shifts back to human form. I close my eyes, fearing the wrath of my mate. Unexpectedly, I find myself surrounded by warmth. I open my eyes to see Jayden has wrapped me in his arms protectively.

Well this is unexpected...

"Sophie don't ever do something like that again. Do you know how scared I was? Did they hurt you? Are you okay?" He pulls away from me and I can see his eyes are once again bright emerald and I know it is just Jayden.

I smile and gently touch his cheek with my right hand, "I'm fine."

He sighs, "Jesus Soph. It's like you enjoy making me worry."

I giggle, "No I don't, but I must say, you are quite sexy when you take charge like that." I add with a raised eyebrow.

He laughs and ruffles my hair, "Yeah okay. Let's get you back to the pack house."

Then he freezes and looks down at me. I notice his eyes begin to shift in color again and he quickly looks away. Huh? I glance down and see my naked body! In the daylight too, this is so embarrassing!

I quickly try to cover myself with my arms, "Um I ripped my clothes..."

"Here." He pulls off his shirt and hands it to me without looking.

"Thanks..." I say and gently grab the shirt in my hands and throw it over my head.

After I quickly cover myself up, I reach out and grasp Jayden's hand in my own. He turns back to me and grins happily. I blush gently and look down. He is absolutely gorgeous when he smiles. Everything about him is so manly and perfect. How did I get so lucky?