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 lit 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 loups came back to haunt me once again. I had trouble getting to sleep last night. The plus I thought about it, the plus and plus scarier the giant loups 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 loups 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, toi know, about the Quileute legends? I was going to ask some questions. I mean, toi could come if toi 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. toi 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 toi 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 toi 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 jour 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 plus 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.
“ salut Mika!”
I turned and faced the dark, muscular boy jogging up behind me.
“ Quil Ateara? Remember me? We meet yesterday.”
“ Yeah! salut 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.
“ toi 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 toi before him.” Quil grinned and acted pretty pleased with himself.
“ Why?” I asked absentmindedly. I was thinking about Jacob, the loups and Alice, trying to piece everything together.
“ Because. He likes toi a lot.” Quil a dit and his voice was softer. The seriousness in it snapped me back into paying attention.
“ Really?” I felt short of breath, my cœur, coeur 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 toi think that?” I asked, my mind still whirling from the possibility that Jacob could like me back.
“ He talks about toi all the time. We can’t get him to shut up.” Quil smiled and steered me away from the plage 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 toi 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 par 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 toi 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 chemise while Quil had a thin tee-shirt. They seemed perfectly comfortable while I was freezing in a long sleeve shirt.
“ How come toi 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 toi 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 toi guys have like, village guard chiens running around ou something?”
Embry stiffened beside me.
“ What do toi 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 chiens this big before.” I a dit 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 toi would see us so quickly.” He mumbled.
“ Excuse me?” I asked. I could have sworn he a dit us.
He groaned and rubbed a hand over his buzz.
“ Where’s Jake when we need him?” He groaned again. “ Um.. Do toi remember the couleurs 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 fourrure with, um dark spots on its back and one with chocolat 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 toi 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 a dit quietly.
“ The loups that toi 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.
“ toi don’t even care that we turn into huge wolves? All toi 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 chocolat 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 toi tell her.”
Quil’s eyes widened just a little bit plus and Embry sighed and settled down beside me again.
“ toi 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 toi just call Jacob?” I asked, curious how Embry knew all this.
“ Uh. I guess toi 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 l’amour 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 toi communicate with them when they’re in Canada?”
Quil grinned at my impatience. “ I was getting there. When we’re in loup 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 toi saying that Jake has imprinted on…me?!” I tried not to scream.
“ Yeah.” Quil a dit 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 l’amour me?”
Embry snorted again and took over explaining. “ Even if toi stop loving him, he’ll always be there for you. Weather toi need a friend, a big brother ou a husband, he’ll be there waiting.”
I felt like my grin was going to divisé, 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.
“ toi can’t tell anyone. No matter what. toi 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 toi guys here?” I asked. “ I’ve read stories that toi guys are protectors?” I waited until Quil nodded slowly.
“ What are toi guys protecting us from?”
“ salut 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 cœur, coeur 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 toi know everything since Quil is so talkative?”
I nodded mutely, his good looks taking my breath away. His chocolat 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 a dit 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, toi 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 ou 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 toi into this. Just because I’ve imprinted on toi doesn’t mean toi have to l’amour 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 Raiponce 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 a dit 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 toi 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 a dit 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 toi hear yourself? I’m a werewolf basically, without the corny Hollywood legends. toi can’t hurt me. And even if toi did cut me ou 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 toi 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 favori smell. I hadn’t realized that he had been running until we were standing in front of my house.
“ Wow. You’re fast.” I a dit as I slid down.
He shrugged and stepped closer. “ Being a shape shifter has its perks.” He smiled and cupped my face again.
“ toi 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.
“ toi know I have to. But maybe I can see toi 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 déplacer again. Not to mention how much it would hurt Jacob. I resolved right then and there not to fall in l’amour 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 cœur, coeur but all I could see was Jacob‘s face. This would be harder than I thought.