Chapter Two

    As the sun broke through my window, I sat up and gasped. Sun! There was actually sun shining in La Push, Washington! I jumped out of bed and rushed to my window, yanking my curtain out of the way. But as I looked out, it wasn’t the sun that was on my mind anymore. Glancing at Jacob’s house, the memories of the wolves came back to haunt me once again. I had trouble getting to sleep last night. The more I thought about it, the more and more scarier the giant wolves had become. It didn’t help that once I fell asleep, my dreams were filled with Jacob and russet colored wolves. That made no sense to me. Why would I associate one of the wolves with Jacob? I was glad that today was Saturday and I could just relax.
“ Mika?”
I jumped at the sound of my name, dropped the curtain and turned toward my door. My dad stood there looking sheepish. I knew instantly that he wanted something.
“ Yeah, what’s up, Dad?”
“ Well, I kinda made plans with some of the tribe elders, you know, about the Quileute legends? I was going to ask some questions. I mean, you could come if you want.”
The last part came just a little too slow. I knew that he liked to be alone when he went on ‘adventures’. He reminded me of a little boy that wanted to have his own way. He shifted from one foot to another, looking impatient but at the same time, pleading.
“ Oh. Yeah ok. That’s great because I was going to try and look around. You know, check things out?” I made up quickly. I had actually nothing to do. This was going to be one long, boring day.
“ Great! That’s just great! OK, I’ll see you later honey.”
Dad was out of the door and out the front door before I could say anything. I walked slowly to the mirror in my room. I glanced at my reflection. I looked pale, and I had light purple circles under my eyes from my restless night of sleep. Studying the dark circles under my eyes, I suddenly remembered Alice. There was something not natural about her. Everything about her invited you closer but at the same time she seemed almost dangerous. But I didn’t understand that either. She was so beautiful, tiny and graceful, like a ballerina. She seemed sweet but everything here in Washington so far, seemed wrong. Alice, Jacob and now the wolves. I felt like I was caught up in a middle of a movie where everyone else knew what was going on except you. I couldn’t place how I felt, just like everything here seemed like they were something they weren’t. As I stared at myself and let my thoughts drift to Jacob. I had only known him for a day and I already felt a attraction towards him stronger than I had ever felt before. I needed to catch myself before I fell hard for him. I knew it would just lead to more heartache when we moved yet another time. Something brown flashed in the corner of my eye and I jumped and looked toward my window. I couldn’t see anything. I shook my head, silently chiding myself for being so jumpy. I needed to stop thinking about the wolves. I quickly grabbed my makeup bag and applied my makeup and got dressed. I slipped out the front door twenty minutes later and walked the direction of where I had heard there was a little store. I had been walking a little while when I heard a voice call out. I jumped yet again.
“ Hey Mika!”
I turned and faced the dark, muscular boy jogging up behind me.
“ Quil Ateara? Remember me? We meet yesterday.”
“ Yeah! Hey Quil. What’s going on?” I smiled at Quil.
“ Nothing much. Getting ready to go meet Embry at the beach.” He slowed and matched my pace, his stride was the length of one and a half of mine. I quickened to match his speed. He looked down at me and I could almost see his mind whirling.
“ You wanna come? Jake should be along in a bit.”
I paused and stared up at him. He was shorted than the others but still taller than me.
“ Jacob’s coming there in a little bit?” I asked uncertainly.
Quil’s eyes flashed mischievously. “ Oh yeah.”
“ Ok. I’ll come.” I smiled at him and he ran a hand over his buzzed hair.
“ Cool! He’ll be jealous that I found you before him.” Quil grinned and acted pretty pleased with himself.
“ Why?” I asked absentmindedly. I was thinking about Jacob, the wolves and Alice, trying to piece everything together.
“ Because. He likes you a lot.” Quil said and his voice was softer. The seriousness in it snapped me back into paying attention.
“ Really?” I felt short of breath, my heart kicked up a notch. Quil’s grin grew bigger until it stretched across his face. Almost like he could hear it. Weird.
“ Oh yeah.”
We veered onto a path that led away from the main road.
“ What makes you think that?” I asked, my mind still whirling from the possibility that Jacob could like me back.
“ He talks about you all the time. We can’t get him to shut up.” Quil smiled and steered me away from the beach that was now in view.
“ Where are we going?” I asked, still staring at the white sand of the beach.
“ We always met up there.” Quil pointed up to the cliffs.
“ Oh.” I stared at the steep trail in doubt.
    When we finally made it up to the top, I was breathing hard but Quil wasn’t winded the slight bit.
“ It took you long enough.”
I jumped and turned to the voice. Embry Call sat leaning against a fallen log.
“ Sorry. Mika walks slow.” Quil complained as he flopped down by Embry. I stared at Embry, slightly uncomfortable. He was so quiet. He had cropped black hair, parted slightly to the side with the left side tucked behind his ear while the right side swung free.
“ Come here Mika.. We’ll warm you up.” Quil said. I hadn’t noticed I was cold. But now that the sun had gone behind the clouds and the wet sea spray was hitting me, I felt chilled. I shivered again and moved to sit in-between Quil and Embry. Their hot skin pressed against both my sides and I instantly relaxed. What was up with these Quileute boys all being so warm? I noticed that Embry had on a sleeveless shirt while Quil had a thin tee-shirt. They seemed perfectly comfortable while I was freezing in a long sleeve shirt.
“ How come you guys are so warm?” I asked as I was getting drowsy from their warmth. I didn’t miss the look that passed from Embry to Quil.
“ Um… I don’t know. You’re probably just really cold here. It takes a while to get used to the weather.” Embry finally answered. I let it go. I didn’t want to pressure them.
“ Oh! Can I ask you guys something?” I suddenly remembered the Wolves.
“ Sure.” Quil answered quickly and slung an arm around my shoulders. Embry shot him a look I couldn’t read.
“ Well, do you guys have like, village guard dogs running around or something?”
Embry stiffened beside me.
“ What do you mean?” He asked quickly.
“ I saw these dogs…well they actually looked like wolves, running around outside my room. But they were huge! I’ve never seen dogs this big before.” I said and looked at Quil. He was staring at me with his mouth open slightly. I glanced at Embry. He was looking at Quil with a warning look in his eyes. Embry stood up quickly.
“ I’ll be back.” He took off jogging toward the woods in the distance.
“ Quil?” I stared at him in confusion.
“ We didn’t think you would see us so quickly.” He mumbled.
“ Excuse me?” I asked. I could have sworn he said us.
He groaned and rubbed a hand over his buzz.
“ Where’s Jake when we need him?” He groaned again. “ Um.. Do you remember the colors of them?”
I stopped and tried to think.
“ Yeah, I think so. There was a russet one. It was the biggest. Um…one was smaller, it was light silver. And there was one with gray fur with, um dark spots on its back and one with chocolate brown fur.” I stopped and glanced at Quil. He was staring at me, his eyes wide.
“ Oh! And a sandy one. I left it out.” I added quickly when I remembered the gangly looking one.
“ I don’t believe this.” Quil moaned as he took his arm away from me and rested his face in both of his hands. He looked up at the sky like he was begging for help. “ Why does it have to be me?”
He sighed and faced me.
“ What you saw, the wolves, that was us.”
I blinked. “ Come again?” I leaned in closer, sure I was misunderstanding.
“ I guess I can tell you. Jake doesn’t have a problem with it like Sam did.” Quil said quietly.
“ The Wolves that you saw were us. Jake, me, Quil, Leah and Seth. We were on our way to the Cullen’s.” He paused and I reminded myself to breathe. I sucked in a huge breath, almost gasping.
“ Who is who?” I whispered.
Quil looked down at me in shock.
“ You don’t even care that we turn into huge wolves? All you want to know is who is who?” He started laughing. “ This is great! This will be even better for Jake. OK, Jake is the russet one. He’s the biggest because he’s the Alpha. The light silver one is Leah. Its smaller because she’s a girl. The one that is gray and spotted is Quil, I’m the chocolate one and Seth is the sand colored one.” He finished.
I blinked at him in shock. Embry came back up.
“ Jake’s coming. He says wait a minute before you tell her.”
Quil’s eyes widened just a little bit more and Embry sighed and settled down beside me again.
“ You told her, didn’t you?”
“ I didn’t think he would care!” Quil snapped.
“ Well, we’ll find out in a minute.” Embry sounded weary.
“ Did you just call Jacob?” I asked, curious how Embry knew all this.
“ Uh. I guess you could call it that.” Embry glanced at Quil.
“ Go ahead bro. You’ve told her everything so far.”
Quil started into his long story. “ I might as well start from the beginning. There used to be ten of us. Sam used to be the Alpha but when Bella was pregnant, he wanted to kill her baby. Jake was supposed to be Alpha but had never wanted it. But he was in love with Bella then and he wouldn’t stand for Sam attacking Bella and the Cullen’s. He broke off and started his own pack. Leah and Seth joined him. The rest of us stayed with Sam’s pack.” He paused and looked a little sheepish.
“ We all joined together when the Volturi came, but after they left, Sam and his pack, minus us two, moved to Canada because there can’t be two Alpha’s in the same area. Sam, Brody, Paul, Jared and Collin all moved with him. We still communicate with them when we want to and Paul imprinted on Jake’s sister so he likes to check up on her a lot.”
“ Wait, how can you communicate with them when they’re in Canada?”
Quil grinned at my impatience. “ I was getting there. When we’re in wolf form, we can hear each other’s thoughts. Jake hasn’t liked that lately when we all bug him about thinking about you.”
I smiled. “ He thinks about me?”
Embry snorted beside me. “ All the time. It makes Quil sick.”
I glared at Quil.
Quil held up his hands and leaned slightly away from me. “ I’ve already imprinted on someone. I don’t want to think about how nice some other girl’s body is. Not that your’s isn’t nice.” He grinned at me slyly.
A new realization hit me. “ Wait, are you saying that Jake has imprinted on…me?!” I tried not to scream.
“ Yeah.” Quil said it like it was boring. To me it was the best news on Earth. I bounced up and down a little.
“ What does it mean? This never goes away, does it? He will always love me?”
Embry snorted again and took over explaining. “ Even if you stop loving him, he’ll always be there for you. Weather you need a friend, a big brother or a husband, he’ll be there waiting.”
I felt like my grin was going to split my face.
“ I can’t believe this! The legends were right! I’ve got to tell my dad!” I exclaimed and started to rise. Almost faster than I could see, Embry was crouched on his knees in front of me, his hot hands on my arms pushing me back against the tree.
“ NO!”
I blinked and shrunk back against the tree.
“ You can’t tell anyone. No matter what. You have to keep our secret.”
I nodded dumbly.
“ Enough Embry.” Quil complained. “ You’re scaring her.”
Embry released my arms and returned back to his seat.
I sat absorbing all of this in.
“ Why are you guys here?” I asked. “ I’ve read stories that you guys are protectors?” I waited until Quil nodded slowly.
“ What are you guys protecting us from?”
“ Hey guys. We got here as soon as we heard.”
I jumped and then relaxed as the smooth voice washed over me. Jacob, Seth and Leah walked up, Seth and Jacob with no shirts on. My heart sped up as I took in Jacob’s muscled goodness. Everyone turned to look at me. I blushed and looked down. Of course they all had enhanced hearing. Jacob smiled and walked over to me. He offered a hand and I took it, allowing him to pull me up. He didn’t let go once I was standing.
“ I suppose you know everything since Quil is so talkative?”
I nodded mutely, his good looks taking my breath away. His chocolate eyes were warm as they stared into mine.
Quil pretended to gag. In a speed that I could hardly follow, Jacob picked up a rock and threw it at Quil’s head. Right before it hit him, Quil reached up and caught it. Their speed made my head hurt.
“ Come on guys. Let’s go run patrol.” Leah said and the rest of them got up and headed toward the woods, probably to shape shift.
When they were all gone, Jacob turned to me and looked almost shy.
“ So, um, you know everything?” He asked softly.
“ Yeah, I think so.” I answered.
“ Even the imprinting?” He cleared his throat nervously.
“ Yeah.”
“ You’re not creeped out or anything?” He asked, sounding sacred to know the answer.
“ Nope. I think its kinda cool.” I said, and shyly looked up at him.
His smile was like the sun bursting out from behind the clouds. He wrapped his arms around me and picked me up, spinning me around. I laughed and he looked down at me, his brown eyes smoldering. When he stopped, my feet were still off the ground, my arms locked around his neck, his bare chest burning with heat through my shirt. His head lowered a bit and my lips parted expectantly.
“ Mika….” He trailed off.
“ Yes?”
“ I don’t want to push you into this. Just because I’ve imprinted on you doesn’t mean you have to love me back. I can be just your friend. I mean, you‘ve only known me for a day.”
My eyes widened. Why was he saying such stupid stuff?
In answer, I tangled my fingers in his shaggy hair and pulled his head down to me. My blood pounded so hard, it felt like I had my own personal drum line in my head. Just before our lips met, a howl pierced the air. Jacob stiffened and raised his head.
“ I’ve got to go.” He said sadly. My eyes were still closed. When I opened them, he was staring at my lips.
“ Ok.” I finally answered and loosened my arms from around his neck. He slowly set my feet down on the sand.
“ Here, I’ll take you home. We’ve got to hurry though.” He turned his back to me.
“ Get on.”
I stared at his broad back.
“ I uh, don’t want to hurt you.” I said without thinking. That had been my excuse all the other times when guys had offered.
He turned to look at me, his eyes unbelieving.
“ Mika, do you hear yourself? I’m a werewolf basically, without the corny Hollywood legends. You can’t hurt me. And even if you did cut me or something, I guarantee that I’ll be healed in five minutes max.” He smiled and cupped my face with one big hand. His warm palm sent tingles through me. He slowly traced his thumb over my lips and the tingles intensified.
“ Now, will you please come on? I have to go meet the others.” He smiled and grabbed my arms and in one fluid motion, I was on his back. I felt like a feather. Why would I have thought that I could have hurt this strong shape shifter? I wrapped my arms around him neck and leaned my face into where his strong shoulder met his neck. He smelled of woods and something sweet. I decided that this was my new favorite smell. I hadn’t realized that he had been running until we were standing in front of my house.
“ Wow. You’re fast.” I said as I slid down.
He shrugged and stepped closer. “ Being a shape shifter has its perks.” He smiled and cupped my face again.
“ You have no idea how hard it is for me to leave you.” His thumb traced my lower lip. I felt like I was melting.
“ Then don’t.” I whispered halfheartedly. I knew that he would have to since he was Alpha. He grinned.
“ You know I have to. But maybe I can see you later?” He trailed off, waiting for the invitation.
“ Yes! Please come over as soon as you’re done. I’ll be in my room. You’ll come right?”
He chuckled. “ Sure, sure.” He hugged me tightly for a moment and with one last look at me, turned and jogged for the woods. Instantly, the warmth I felt whenever I was around him drained away. I felt cold and lonely. I turned and walked into my house. I hoped Jacob wasn’t very long. As I pictured his face, I realized how hard I had fallen for him in only a day. How bad would it be when I had been around him for months? I knew it would kill me when we had to move again. Not to mention how much it would hurt Jacob. I resolved right then and there not to fall in love with him anymore than I already had. I wouldn’t make him suffer when I had to leave him. If I didn’t get any closer to him, maybe it would be a little easier for both of us. I tried to distract my aching heart but all I could see was Jacob‘s face. This would be harder than I thought.