You & I Collide

Jacob

When I was bolting through the forest, loving the feel of the wind rushing past me and the scent of the fresh air, a howl pierced the air, and soon my mind was full of a bunch of thoughts, all combined together and coming from the rest of the wolf pack.

He's coming in from the North - what should we do, Jake?

Somebody get Jared - now! He's over at Kim's place.

Maybe I should warn the Cullens, just in case...

No, Seth - this is a time for action. You can't just run off to your little leech friends and expect us to -

Guys, I snarled, cool it. Having no choice but to obey the Alpha's orders, they all shut up, which was nice. But I had a duty to perform, here, and questions needed to be asked and answered.

What's going on? I asked inside my head.

Embry, Quil, and Collin found the Italian vamp, Paul muttered, I winced at the depressed tone in his words - he was still hurting over my sister. Embry said he's coming from the North - we can corner him, Jake!

I nodded. Right. Okay. Embry, Quil, and Collin, come in from the West. Brady, Seth, Leah, and Jared - you guys" Leah growled, still mad at me from before, when I'd totally flipped at her "and girls take the East route. Sam, Paul, and I will head in from the South, a head-on attack. We'll be able to corner him and he'll have nowhere's to run. My group will go first, and then the West and East groups will go back around him on a angle - that way, if he tries to run in the oppostie direction from us, you'll have him cornered, there, too. Everybody clear?

Clear, Jake! they all chorused, all but Leah. I sighed.

Leah, look - I'm sorry, okay? I was being a total jerk. Can you please forgive me?

She sighed, too, and her pace slowed. I forgive you, Jake - thanks. And I know we don't always get along -

Ain't that the truth, muttered Jared, suddenly appearing after phasing. I could feel him rushing to join up with us.

Shut up, Jared, about half of the packs mumbled, including me.

- but I think you're a really great Alpha, Jake, Leah continued, and I'm really glad that you're leading us in this mission.

Er...thanks, Leah, I said, feeling a bit awkward and extremely self-conscious, considering that there were eight other people listening to the conversation involuntarily. Now before things get all mushy, let's move.

And so we headed off into the forest, pushing forward. When the smell of Amun was in the air, we were even more alert and tense, every fibre of our bodies totally focused on what we had to do. And then...we saw him. My groups sped forward, gaining in close. As predicted, he turned around and ran the other way, but was headed off by the other two groups. He spun around, his red eyes glowing and giving me a shock of terror.

I froze for a moment, totally stunned. A panicked yelp from Paul brought me back to reality, and suddenly I was all wolf, and there was no Jacob Black. There was only the rush of air as I lept forward, my mouth open and my teeth waiting to collide with the pale white skin of the vampire we were about to kill....