Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?

The five menacing figures continued to stalk towards us through the overgrown trees. Their paced slowed to what would be a tiptoe if they were human. Their steady pace thundered on the ground sending shocks through my body, shaking the trees slightly as they passed. I felt the vibrations from the ground grow stronger; they were close. I readied myself for impact, crouching down on instinct clenching my fists. I felt the waves of phasing coming on; my hands were red hot and clammy, my eyesight sharpening and my body shaking so fast that no normal human would be able to tell. I calmed myself down, but still kept myself on edge.

I wasn't shaking from anger or scarce, I don't know why, but for the first time in years, I felt the need to protect. I didn't know what from exactly, but I knew I needed to. Perhaps, for some bizarre reason, I wanted to protect Jacob. More than I wanted to protect myself. But I suppose, it would be kinda awkward taking his mauled body back to his parents and trying to explain what had happened. I looked over to my new friend, he looked sturdy enough, he was crouched down, much like I was, -but he was slightly closer to the woods than I was as he was so much taller than me- and was staring at the black silhouettes in front of us, still pacing in our direction. I turned my head back to the forest, and snapped it back to look at Jacob again, "Remember those wolves I told you about earlier?" He asked in a hushed tone, I nodded in retaliation, "I think it's about time for an introduction." As he finished speaking he stood up straight to his fullest height. Jeez, how much taller does he want to get? I thought to myself. What did he mean by introduction anyways? Did these wolves talk? Yeah, sure… But, then again...

I looked at Jacob, frowning. He continued to stare into the forest, his deep eyes transfixed, his scruffy black hair blowing in the wind, his breathing heavy. I looked back into the woods, to where five gigantic wolves should be standing. Only, they weren't there for me to look at, but in their place stood five young men. All five of them were tall, with tanned skin, short black hair and dark brown eyes that glistened ferociously in the light. None of them were wearing much, only a pair of worn out denim skate shorts each. Not that it was such a bad sight, all of them had nicely toned bodies, but that was completely another subject.

The middle guy, who seemed to be the leader, stepped forward towards us. The rest followed, each wearing a matching scowl. My eyes flicked over each of them, scanning their features, looking for any similarity of what just happened, and what I thought just happened. I looked at Jacob; he seemed more relaxed than before. It was becoming obvious that he knew these people. That was when I blanked unexpectedly. That happens a lot. I just tune out for no reason and end up just staring at the first thing my eyes set on. This time, my eyes were on Jacob. I couldn't even begin to imagine how uneasy he must have felt under my absent gaze. As I slowly crashed back into reality I caught snippets of the conversation that was undergoing between Jacob and the leader of the strangers, but I could only manage to pick out parts of sentences like; "She's new to the reservation" and "I don't think you realise how quickly this can become dangerous for all of us, Jacob". The leader's voice was deep and booming; it echoed through the woods and sent shivers down my spine.

I found it obvious that the danger the guy was referring to was me. I was often associated with danger and trouble back in Chicago. As I thought about it more I could feel a low growl build up in my throat. I caught myself, just in time and coughed to cover it up, unfortunately, this made everyone look over to me. I felt blood rush furiously into my cheeks; they were most likely a bright crimson red by now. Jacob looked at me last, I felt everyone's gaze look me over, and I hate it when people do that.

"Ahem... Ella... These are my friends." Jacob informed me nervously; I shifted closer to him instinctively, trying to read his face. He nodded in the direction of the leader with the face of thunder, "That's Sam Uley" I gave Sam a weak smile, but he didn't return the gesture, I looked down, waiting for Jacob to continue,
"The one on his right is Paul" The Paul guy looked like he was attached to Sam by the hip, although they both wore matching expressions, Paul had a more aggressive aura around him, he seemed like the kinda guy that could get angry at the slightest of things. I smiled at him too, and like Sam, he didn't smile back. I turned back to face Jacob, rejection creeping up on me.
"That one's Jared," I smiled hastily, not wanting it to be wasted on another misery guts, but to my surprise, the Jared guy half smiled back. That made me feel a little better but I still didn't get what the other two were grouchy about.
"That's Embry" Jacob pointed to a younger looking guy, "And the little one, that's Quil." I smiled over to the both of them, my smile got wider as I received a full smile from Embry and even a wave from Quil. A silence fell amongst the small crowd, tension hanging in the breeze. I looked to the floor nervously, feeling someone’s stare burn through me. I coughed silently, looking back up to the group of men, then at Jacob.
"Uhh... Could you excuse me for a sec Ella?" He asked and I nodded in reply, my heartbeat escalating. As Jacob left my side Wolfgang replaced him, posed in a protective stance, Nanook on my other side mirroring Wolfgang, but with slightly less aggression.
I watched Jacob stride over to the leader, Sam. They exchanged looks and began talking.

Jacob's POV.

I walked over to Sam; he was going to make this so hard for me. I knew what he was going to say already; "She's bad for this pack, she needs to leave, she's dangerous, I don't like her" Blah, blah, blah. I wasn't going to give up that easily. There's just something about her.. I reached Sam and just stood there, standing my ground even before anything was said. After a while, Sam spoke up,

"Jake." He started, simply. I prepared myself for whatever he was about to throw at me, even though he knows all too well that I've heard it all before. "I should imagine you know what I'm going to tell you." I rolled my eyes,

"I have a pretty good idea" I stated, Sam's expression hardened more than it already was; I didn't think that was possible.

"Then you'll already know that there's something strange about her. And I don't like it." I rolled my eyes again. Saw that one coming. "This is dangerous Jacob, you know that."

"I don't get it, what’s so dangerous about her?" I crossed my arms; this is starting to get ridiculous.

"I don't know yet. But I've got that feeling. Something’s not right about her and I want you to find out what it is." I don't believe this; he wants me to be his little sniffer dog? No pun intended.

"What? Why should I? She's fine!" Sam sighed, getting annoyed as was I.

"Just do it Jake." He turned to leave. "I trust you." And with that Sam and his pack left the beach.
I shook my head and walked back over to Ella. She was stood watching me, stroking her dogs. She took a deep breath and took a few small steps towards me.

"Welcome back,” She smiled, "So, what was all that about?" She asked as we walked back to the log we were sat on before we were rudely interrupted.

"Oh, nothing. My friends just dropped in to say 'Hi'" Okay. So lying isn't right. She probably saw right through it anyway. Ella sat down and laughed slightly. I raised an eyebrow and sat down beside her.

"I was referring to when you said about meeting wolves or something." Oh crap. Now she's suspicious. What could I say? Come on Jake, think of something!

"Well, we all go to school together and we're all on the football team and the mascot is a wolf so we're known as the Quileute High Wolves, so...yeah. Wolves." I laughed nervously, realising that my made-up story was actually believable. I mentally high-fived myself. Nice job Jake! Ella looked at me, obviously she heard my laugh.

"So, there're no werewolves who are able to shape-shift back and forth from human to wolf whenever they please then?" She made the question sound as casual as if she were asking if she were asking you the time. My mouth dropped.

"What?" Oh my gosh. Sam was right? She knows! Ella knows about the wolves! Ohhh Sam was not gonna like this. Wait. I'm gonna tell him? Ha. No. I decided to play it cool.
I faked a cough, covering up my last question, "Uhh, what do you mean?" I raised my eyebrows and made the pitch of my usually deep voice slightly higher. So I'm a bad actor, sue me. Ella looked at me with her beautiful blue eyes. I had only just realised how they complemented her English Rose complexion. Oh man. Now I sound like a girl.

"Jacob," She started, "I need to tell you something. Well.. Two something’s." I squinted, wondering what they could be. Well obviously one would be that she knows about wolves. Hmmm... What could..., Oh! For the love of God please don't be a man!

"Well, ummm.. The reason I know about your friends being shapeshifters is..."

Ella's POV

I took a deep breath again. Should I tell him that I just read a lot? No, he doesn't deserve to be lied to. I took a minute to compose myself. Here goes nothing. "Because.. I'm a shape shifter too." I looked into his eyes, he didn't seem effected in anyway. Yet. Jacob nodded, understanding. Good, he didn't faint. Now, for the next big secret, "And I.." I started quietly,

"Wait, Ella. Before you say anything else, well, you might have already guessed but, I'm also, a shape shifter." He breathed heavily and I smiled at him.

"Well at least one wolf likes me." I laughed nervously,

"Who said I liked you?" he smiled and shifted slightly away. We both laughed and he shuffled back, closer to me this time. Jake coughed lightly, still smiling that cute, lop-sided smile of his, "So.. What were you gonna say before?" He looked me in the eyes, expecting an answer.

I opened my mouth to begin and stuttered. I couldn't tell him. It's not that I didn't trust him. I just couldn't bring myself to tell him. Enough information for one day, people would say,

"It doesn't matter" I smiled at him, and then looked down. I tilted my head so that it was resting lightly on his massive shoulder. He didn't flinch away or anything, so I left it there and gazed up to the setting sun.