I sighed.

"I also tried to convince him to let you visit. He's prejudiced, so don't let him give you any crap about safety. He knows as well as I do that you'd be safe here."

"He has a point there," Carlisle said, "especially with the other wolves there too."

"Still, I would probably like it better if she were somewhere that I knew she would be safe," Edward said, giving Alice a pointed look.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"See you in a few," Jacob said.

"You're coming up?"

"Yeah. I'm going to get the scent of your visitor so we can track him if he comes back."

"Good," Jasper nodded his head in approval.

"Jake, I really don't like the idea of you tracking -"

"Oh please, Bella," he interrupted. Jacob laughed, and then hung up.

"That's it," Emmett said, handing the book to Esme.

Chapter Ten

Scent

"Scent," Esme read.

It was all very childish. Why on earth should Edward have to leave for Jacob to come over? Weren't we past this kind of immaturity?

"Nope," Emmett laughed.

"It's not immaturity," Edward said, "it's precaution...I really don't want to fight the pup, especially now. It's smarter not to risk this."

"It's not that I feel any personal antagonism toward him, Bella, it's just easier for both of us," Edward told me at the door. "I won't be far away. You'll be safe."

"So, will you be listening, Eddy?" Emmett smirked.

"Er..." was all Edward could say to that, though it looked like he wasn't sure if he was going to be or not.

"I'm not worried about that ."

He smiled, and then a sly look came into his eye. He pulled me close, burying his face in my hair. I could feel his cool breath saturate the strands as he exhaled; it raised goose bumps on my neck.

"Why are you doing that?" Esme asked Edward, looking at him oddly, but nearly everyone else was laughing.

"I'm sure the pup will get a kick out of that," Emmett laughed. "Nice one, Eddy!"

"I'll be right back," he said, and then he laughed aloud as if I'd just told a good joke.

"What's so funny?"

But Edward just grinned and loped off toward the trees without answering.

"Idiot," Alice said, but she was obviously amused too.

Grumbling to myself, I went to clean up the kitchen. Before I even had the sink full of water, the doorbell rang. It was hard to get used to how much faster Jacob was without his car. How everyone seemed to be so much faster than me. . . .

"Come in, Jake!" I shouted.

I was concentrating on piling the dishes into the bubbly water, and I'd forgotten that Jacob moved like a ghost these days. So it made me jump when his voice was suddenly there behind me.

"Should you really leave your door unlocked like that? Oh, sorry."

"It's probably not a good idea to have it unlocked, but it really doesn't make a difference to anything that would be after her," Edward said.

I'd slopped myself with the dishwater when he'd startled me.

"I'm not worried about anyone who would be deterred by a locked door," I said while I wiped the front of my shirt with a dishtowel.

"Good point," he agreed.

I turned to look at him, eyeing him critically. "Is it really so impossible to wear clothes, Jacob?" I asked.

Edward really didn't appear to like that sentence.

Once again, Jacob was bare-chested, wearing nothing but a pair of old cut-off jeans. Secretly, I wondered if he was just so proud of his new muscles that he couldn't stand to cover them up. I had to admit, they were impressive -

"Hmph," Edward huffed.

"It looks like Eddy might have some muscles he wants to show you," Emmett laughed.

but I'd never thought of him as vain. "I mean, I know you don't get cold anymore, but still."

He ran a hand through his wet hair; it was falling in his eyes.

"It's just easier," he explained.

"What's easier?"

He smiled condescendingly. "It's enough of a pain to carry the shorts around with me, let alone a complete outfit. What do I look like, a pack mule?"

"Oh, of course they would have to carry their clothes with them seeing as their clothes would burst off them when they phase," Carlisle said.

I frowned. "What are you talking about, Jacob?"

His expression was superior, like I was missing something obvious. "My clothes don't just pop in and out of existence when I change -

"Yeah, we're not comic books characters, remember?" Emmett laughed.

I have to carry them with me while I run. Pardon me for keeping my burden light."

I changed color. "I guess I didn't think about that," I muttered.

He laughed and pointed to a black leather cord, thin as a strand of yarn, that was wound three times below his left calf like an anklet. I hadn't noticed before that his feet were bare, too. "That's more than just a fashion statement - it sucks to carry jeans in your mouth."

I didn't know what to say to that.

He grinned. "Does my being half-naked bother you?"

"No."

"But I know who it does bother," Emmett teased as Edward glared.

Jacob laughed again, and I turned my back on him to focus on the dishes. I hoped he realized my blush was left over from embarrassment at my own stupidity, and had nothing to do with his question.

Edward raised an eyebrow and that, and the frown remained firm on his face.

"Well, I suppose I should get to work." He sighed. "I wouldn't want to give him an excuse to say I'm slacking on my side."

"Jacob, it's not your job -"

He raised a hand to cut me off. "I'm working on a volunteer basis here. Now, where is the intruder's scent the worst?"

"My bedroom, I think."

Edward hissed. He didn't like that one bit.

His eyes narrowed. He didn't like that any more than Edward had.

And didn't seem to like that either.

"I'll just be a minute."

I methodically scrubbed the plate I was holding. The only sound was the brush's plastic bristles scraping round and round on the ceramic. I listened for something from above, a creak of the floorboard, the click of a door. There was nothing. I realized I'd been cleaning the same plate far longer than necessary, and I tried to pay attention to what I was doing.

"Whew!" Jacob said, inches behind me, scaring me again.

"I bet he did that on purpose," Emmett laughed.

"Just because you would have, doesn't mean that anyone else would," Esme said.

"I still think he would," Emmett shrugged, still laughing.

"Yeesh, Jake, cut that out!"

"Sorry. Here -" Jacob took the towel and mopped up my new spill. "I'll make it up to you. You wash, I'll rinse and dry."

"Fine." I gave him the plate.

"Well, the scent was easy enough to catch. By the way, your room reeks."

"And you'll probably agree with him after you get back," Emmett laughed. "At least now you will."

"I'll buy some air freshener."

He laughed.

I washed and he dried in companionable silence for a few minutes.

"Can I ask you something?"

I handed him another plate. "That depends on what you want to know."

"I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything - I'm honestly curious," Jacob assured me.

"Fine. Go ahead."

He paused for half a second. "What's it like - having a vampire for a boyfriend?"

Edward looked interested in the answer to this, despite himself.

I rolled my eyes. "It's the best."

"Why did she roll her eyes?" Edward pouted.

"It was at Jacob's question... not the answer to it," Esme assured him.

"I'm serious. The idea doesn't bother you - it never creeps you out?"

"Never."

He was silent as he reached for the bowl in my hands. I peeked up at his face - he was frowning, his lower lip jutting out.

"Anything else?" I asked.

He wrinkled his nose again. "Well . . . I was wondering . . . do you . . . y' know, kiss him?"

I laughed. "Yes."

He shuddered. "Ugh."

Emmett laughed at that too.

"To each her own," I murmured.

"You don't worry about the fangs?"

Everyone rolled their eyes at that.

I smacked his arm, splashing him with dishwater. "Shut up, Jacob! You know he doesn't have fangs!"

"Close enough," he muttered.

I gritted my teeth and scrubbed a boning knife with more force than necessary.

"Can I ask another one?" he asked softly when I passed the knife to him. "Just curious, again."

"Fine," I snapped.

He turned the knife over and over in his hands under the stream of water. When he spoke, it was only a whisper. "You said a few weeks. . . . When, exactly . . . ?" He couldn't finish.

"You don't want to know," Edward said, and he narrowed his eyes, expecting him to overreact again.

"Graduation," I whispered back, watching his face warily. Would this set him off again?

"So soon," he breathed, his eyes closing. It didn't sound like a question. It sounded like a lament.

"See, there you go, agreeing with the pup again," Emmett laughed.

The muscles in his arms tightened and his shoulders were stiff.

"OW!" he shouted; it had gotten so still in the room that I jumped a foot in the air at his outburst.

His right hand had curled into a tense fist around the blade of the knife - he unclenched his hand and the knife clattered onto the counter. Across his palm was a long, deep gash. The blood streamed down his fingers and dripped on the floor.

"Damn it! Ouch!" he complained.

"Well, that's what you get when you squeeze a knife," Emmett snickered. "Of course, if you were a vampire, you would have just crushed the knife to dust... but everyone can't all be as cool as us."

My head spun and my stomach rolled. I clung to the counter top with one hand, took a deep breath through my mouth, and forced myself to get a grip so that I could take care of him.

"Yeah, you don't want to smell the blood and faint," Emmett burst out laughing, but this time everyone seemed to find the reminder of that quirk of Bella's funny.

"Oh, no, Jacob! Oh, crap! Here, wrap this around it!" I shoved the dish towel at him, reaching for his hand. He shrugged away from me.

"It's nothing, Bella, don't worry about it."

"It's..." Carlisle, ever the doctor, began, but it seemed like he thought of something else because he was suddenly smiling with excitement.

"What is that smile about?" Emmett questioned, looking at him oddly.

"Werewolves heal fast," Carlisle said excitedly. "Jacob mentioned that in New Moon... now we'll get to see exactly how fast that is."

The room started to shimmer a little around the edges.

I took another deep breath. "Don't worry? You sliced your hand open!"

He ignored the dish towel I pushed at him. He put his hand under the faucet and let the water wash over the wound. The water ran red. My head whirled.

"Bella," he said.

"It looks like she's the one that's going to be the most affected by this," Edward laughed.

I looked away from the wound, up to his face. He was frowning, but his expression was calm.

"What?"

"You look like you're going to pass out, and you're biting your lip off. Stop it. Relax. Breathe. I'm fine."

I inhaled through my mouth and removed my teeth from my lower lip. "Don't be brave."

He rolled his eyes.

"Let's go. I'll drive you to the ER." I was pretty sure I would be okay to drive. The walls were holding steady now, at least.

Edward was shaking his head and smiling.

"I'm sure she would have been fine," Carlisle said. "She is a rather determined person, after all."

"Yeah, she would have waited to pass out until after the pup was looked after," Emmett laughed.

"Not necessary." Jake turned off the water and took the towel from my hand. He twisted it loosely around his palm.

"Wait," I protested. "Let me look at it." I clutched the counter more firmly, to hold myself upright if the wound made me woozy again.

"Do you have a medical degree that you never told me about?"

"Just give me the chance to decide whether or not I'm going to throw a fit over taking you to the hospital."

He made a face of mock horror. "Please, not a fit!"

"If you don't let me see your hand, a fit is guaranteed."

"Disagreed, pup," Emmett said hopefully. "That would be hysterical."

He inhaled deeply, and then let out a gusty sigh. "Fine."

He unwound the towel and, when I reached out to take the cloth, he laid his hand in mine.

It took me a few seconds. I even flipped his hand over, though I was sure he'd cut his palm. I turned his hand back up, finally realizing that the angry pink, puckered line was all that was left of his wound.

"But . . . you were bleeding . . . so much."

He pulled his hand back, his eyes steady and somber on mine.

"I heal fast."

"I'll say," I mouthed.

I'd seen the long gash clearly, seen the blood that flowed into the sink. The rust-and-salt smell of it had almost pulled me under. It should have needed stitches. It should have taken days to scab over and then weeks to fade into the shiny pink scar that marked his skin now.

He screwed his mouth up into half a smile and thumped his fist once against his chest.

"Hm... that is fast," Carlisle said. "Rather impressive."

"You don't have a completely accurate view, though. You don't know how long they were talking before she got to see the cut," Emmett said.

"I think I have a good idea how long that would have taken," Carlisle said. He must have calculated how long that conversation would have taken between humans.

"Werewolf, remember?"

His eyes held mine for an immeasurable moment.

"Right," I finally said.

He laughed at my expression. "I told you this. You saw Paul's scar."

I shook my head to clear it. "It's a little different, seeing the action sequence firsthand."

"I wish I could," Carlisle sighed, looking interested. "Then again, I wouldn't want a wolf to go through that if it was avoidable."

I kneeled down and dug the bleach out of the cabinet under the sink. Then I poured some on a dusting rag and started scrubbing the floor. The burning scent of the bleach cleared the last of the dizziness from my head.

"Let me clean up," Jacob said.

"I got this. Throw that towel in the wash, will you?"

When I was sure the floor smelled of nothing but bleach, I got up and rinsed the right side of the sink with bleach, too. Then I went to the laundry closet beside the pantry, and poured a cupful into the washing machine before starting it. Jacob watched me with a disapproving look on his face.

"Do you have obsessive-compulsive disorder?" he asked when I was done.

"No, it's not that," Edward frowned.

Huh. Maybe. But at least I had a good excuse this time. "We're a bit sensitive to blood around here. I'm sure you can understand that."

"Oh." He wrinkled his nose again.

"Why not make it as easy as possible for him? What he's doing is hard enough."

"You don't have to worry about that this time, this wouldn't affect me like that," Edward rolled his eyes.

"But you should really appreciate the effort," Emmett said. "Who would want to put up with that concentration of dog?"

"Sure, sure. Why not?"

I pulled the plug, and let the dirty water drain from the sink.

"Can I ask you something, Bella?"

I sighed.

"What's it like - having a werewolf for a best friend?"

The question caught me off guard. I laughed out loud.

"Does it creep you out?" he pressed before I could answer.

"No. When the werewolf is being nice," I qualified, "it's the best."

He grinned widely, his teeth bright against his russet skin. "Thanks, Bella," he said, and then he grabbed my hand and wrenched me into one of his bone-crushing hugs.

"I wish he would stop doing that," Edward hissed.

Before I had time to react, he dropped his arms and stepped away.

"Ugh," he said, his nose wrinkling.

"It looks like you got your wish," Emmett chuckled.

Edward was smiling smugly at that.

"Your hair stinks worse than your room."

"Sorry," I muttered. I suddenly understood what Edward had been laughing about earlier, after breathing on me.

"One of the many hazards of socializing with vampires," Jacob said, shrugging. "It makes you smell bad. A minor hazard, comparatively."

"I was thinking the same about werewolves," Edward muttered.