I thought that would bother you."

"It's not…well, you're not the first person I've known who could do that. So it doesn't seem so weird to me."

"She shouldn't have said that," Rosalie narrowed her eyes.

"It doesn't matter," Edward said. "It's not like they could do anything with that information."

"Really?… Wait – are you talking about your bloodsuckers?"

"I wish you wouldn't call them that."

He laughed. "Whatever. The Cullens, then?"

"Just… just Edward." I pulled one arm surreptitiously around my torso.

Edward flinched again.

Jacob looked surprised – unpleasantly so. "I thought those were just stories. I've heard legends about vampires who could do…extra stuff, but I thought that was just a myth."

"Is anything just a myth anymore?" I asked him wryly.

"Not for her," Carlisle chuckled.

He scowled. "Guess not. Okay, we're going to meet Sam and the others at the place we go to ride our bikes."

I started the truck and headed back up the road.

"So did you just turn into a wolf now, to talk to Sam?" I asked, curious.

Jacob nodded, seeming embarrassed. "I kept it real short – I tried not to think about you so they wouldn't know what was going on. I was afraid Sam would tell me I couldn't bring you."

"That wouldn't have stopped me." I couldn't get rid of my perception of Sam as the bad guy.

My teeth clenched together whenever I heard his name.

"Well, it would have stopped me," Jacob said, morose now. "Remember how I couldn't finish my sentences last night? How I couldn't just tell you the whole story?"

"Yeah. You looked like you were choking on something."

He chuckled darkly. "Close enough. Sam told me I couldn't tell you. He's…the head of the pack, you know. He's the Alpha. When he tells us to do something, or not to do something –when he really means it, well, we can't just ignore him."

"Interesting," Carlisle smiled. "I could see the advantages there...it must be important to have a leader and one that you have to follow would make it easier...er...sorry," he stopped as he realized he was beginning to babble.

"Weird," I muttered.

"Very," he agreed. "It's kind of a wolf thing."

"Huh" was the best response I could think of.

"Yeah, there's a load of stuff like that – wolf things. I'm still learning. I can't imagine what it was like for Sam, trying to deal with this alone. It sucks bad enough to go through it with a whole pack for support."

"That does sound difficult," Carlisle sighed - looking like he was blaming himself for the whole wolf issue again.

"Sam was alone?"

"Yeah." Jacob's voice lowered. "When I…changed, it was the most…horrible, the most terrifying thing I've ever been through – worse than anything I could have imagined. But I wasn't alone – there were the voices there, in my head, telling me what had happened and what I had to do. That kept me from losing my mind, I think. But Sam…" He shook his head. "Sam had no help."

This was going to take some adjusting. When Jacob explained it like that, it was hard not to feel compassion for Sam.

"It's hard for her not to feel compassion for anyone," Edward smiled and Esme seemed to beam at that.

I had to keep reminding myself that there was no reason to hate him anymore.

"Will they be angry that I'm with you?" I asked.

He made a face. "Probably."

"Maybe I shouldn't –"

"No, it's okay," he assured me. "You know a ton of things that can help us. It's not like you're just some ignorant human. You're like a…I don't know, spy or something. You've been behind enemy lines."

"Well, that will just make her feel brilliant," Edward groaned.

I frowned to myself. Was that what Jacob would want from me? Insider information to help them destroy their enemies? I wasn't a spy, though. I hadn't been collecting that kind of information. Already, his words made me feel like a traitor.

But I wanted him to stop Victoria, didn't I?

No.

"What?" Emmett said incredulously.

"She wants her stopped, but she wants the pup to stay safe too... and well away from Victoria," Alice explained.

I did want Victoria to be stopped, preferably before she tortured me to death or ran into Charlie or killed another stranger. I just didn't want Jacob to be the one to stop her, or rather to try. I didn't want Jacob within a hundred miles of her.

"See," Alice smiled.

"Like the stuff about the mind-reading bloodsucker," he continued, oblivious to my reverie.

"That's the kind of thing we need to know about. That really sucks that those stories are true. It makes everything more complicated. Hey, do you think this Victoria can do anything special?"

"I think she can," Jasper said.

"Really?" Edward asked, looking worried.

"She's good at evasion," Jasper said. "I'm not sure though... I'll need to see more."

"Then you'll never know," Edward growled.

"I don't think so," I hesitated, and then sighed. "He would have mentioned it."

"He? Oh, you mean Edward – oops, sorry. I forgot. You don't like to say his name. Or hear it."

Edward tensed knowing that she was going to react badly to that.

I squeezed my midsection, trying to ignore the throbbing around the edges of my chest. "Not really, no."

Edward groaned at that looking really pained this time.

"Sorry."

"How do you know me so well, Jacob? Sometimes it's like you can read my mind."

"Naw. I just pay attention."

"She is easy to read, after all," Alice smiled.

We were on the little dirt road where Jacob had first taught me to ride the motorcycle.

"This good?" I asked.

"Sure, sure."

I pulled over and cut the engine.

"You're still pretty unhappy, aren't you?" he murmured.

I nodded, staring unseeingly into the gloomy forest.

"Did you ever think…that maybe…you're better off?"

I inhaled slowly, and then let my breath out. "No."

"'Cause he wasn't the best –"

"He will be just fine when he doesn't decide to leave to try and prevent something like this from happening," Alice said, narrowing her eyes.

"Gee...thanks for defending me so well," Edward groaned.

"Please, Jacob," I interrupted, begging in a whisper. "Could we please not talk about this? I can't stand it."

"Okay." He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I said anything."

"Don't feel bad. If things were different, it would be nice to finally be able to talk to someone about it."

He nodded. "Yeah, I had a hard time keeping a secret from you for two weeks. It must be hell to not be able to talk to anyone."

"Except, she doesn't really want to talk about it at all," Edward groaned.

"Hell," I agreed.

Jacob sucked in a sharp breath. "They're here. Let's go."

"Are you sure?" I asked while he popped his door open. "Maybe I shouldn't be here."

"They'll deal with it," he said, and then he grinned. "Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf?"

"Definitely not me!" Emmett laughed.

"Ha ha," I said. But I got out of the truck, hurrying around the front end to stand close beside Jacob. I remembered only too clearly the giant monsters in the meadow. My hands were trembling like Jacob's had been before, but with fear rather than rage.

Jake took my hand and squeezed it. "Here we go."

"That's the end of the chapter," Emmett said and handed the book to Esme.

Chapter Fourteen

Family

"Family," Esme read. "I think I might like this chapter."

I cowered into Jacob's side, my eyes scanning the forest for the other werewolves. When they appeared, striding out from between the trees, they weren't what I was expecting.

"She must have thought that they would come out as wolves," Jasper smiled.

I'd gotten the image of the wolves stuck in my head. These were just four really big half-naked boys.

Again, they reminded me of brothers, quadruplets.

"Well, they do think of themselves as brothers," Edward said.

Something about the way they moved almost in synchronization to stand across the road from us, the way they all had the same long, round muscles under the same red-brown skin, the same cropped black hair, and the way their expressions altered at exactly the same moment.

They started out curious and cautious. When they saw me there, half-hidden beside Jacob, they all became furious in the same second.

"Why are they so mad?" Esme frowned.

"They must realize that the pup has told her... she's not supposed to know after all," Edward offered.

"I'm sure once the shock wears off, they'll be just as... er... almost as happy as we were that she found out," Jasper said.

Sam was still the biggest, though Jacob was getting close to catching up with him. Sam didn't really count as a boy. His face was older – not in the sense of lines or signs of aging, but in the maturity, the patience of his expression.

"He's been a wolf the longest. He must have it mastered - or close enough to it," Edward muttered.

"What have you done, Jacob?" he demanded.

One of the others, one I didn't recognize – Jared or Paul – thrust past Sam and spoke before Jacob could defend himself.

"Why can't you just follow the rules, Jacob?" he yelled, throwing his arms in the air. "What the hell are you thinking? Is she more important than everything – than the whole tribe? Than the people getting killed?"

"And how does her knowing endanger any of that?" Edward snapped.

"She can help," Jacob said quietly.

"Help!" the angry boy shouted. His arms begin to quiver. "Oh, that's likely! I'm sure the leech-lover is just dying to help us out!"

"Ah, poor Bella... being call such a horrible name," Alice smiled. "However is she going to stand for it?"

"Do they honestly think that she would like vampires that killed people?" Edward growled.

"It must not have been much of a leap for them to think that," Carlisle sighed. "I'm sure they are still waiting for us to show our true selves and attack people."

More than one person hissed at that.

"Don't talk about her like that!" Jacob shouted back, stung by the boy's criticism.

A shudder rippled through the other boy, along his shoulders and down his spine.

"Damn...Get her out of there pup!" Edward said.

"Jacob won't let anything happen to her," Carlisle assured him.

"I can trust that he won't phase in front of her...but this mutt...he has no control or reason not to," Edward glared. "And I don't want her there for that."

"Even if he does phase, son, Jacob still won't let her get hurt," Carlisle said. "You can believe that fact at least."

For all the good that that did, Edward was still glaring and tense.

"Paul! Relax!" Sam commanded.

Paul shook his head back and forth, not in defiance, but as though he were trying to concentrate.

"Jeez, Paul," one of the other boys – probably Jared – muttered. "Get a grip."

Paul twisted his head toward Jared, his lips curling back in irritation. Then he shifted his glare in my direction. Jacob took a step to put himself in front of me.

That did it.

"No," Edward said, looking very anxious.

"Oh dear!" Esme cried, looking worried about Bella and at the same time not wanting the wolves to fight one another.

"Right, protect her!" Paul roared in outrage. Another shudder, a convulsion, heaved through his body. He threw his head back, a real growl tearing from between his teeth.

"Paul!" Sam and Jacob shouted together.

Paul seemed to fall forward, vibrating violently. Halfway to the ground, there was a loud ripping noise, and the boy exploded.

"What are you doing Jacob? Get her out of there!" Edward growled again.

Dark silver fur blew out from the boy, coalescing into a shape more than five-times his size – a massive, crouched shape, ready to spring.

The wolf's muzzle wrinkled back over his teeth, and another growl rolled through his colossal chest. His dark, enraged eyes focused on me.