Take it Back, Jacob Black.

“Ry, can you please stop avoiding me? I have to talk to you about something. It's really important.”

“Ry, I know you're there. Just pick up the damn phone.”

“Christina Ryder Greer, how dare you abandon me!”

The first two voice mails were from Jacob, naturally, and the last was from Marcella. I scoffed at her tone. Abandon her? Yeah, right! I never once left her. She can kiss my pale back end. I looked at my phone and contemplated ignoring them for a little longer. Marcella I could handle being without. Jacob, on the other hand...I somewhat reluctantly dialed his number.

It picked up on the fifth ring. “Hello?” The voice belonged to Billy Black.

I inhaled, “May I speak to Jacob, Billy?” I breathed out. He mumbled a 'mhm' and I heard him call for his son. There was a loud commotion, some laughing and cursing, before he picked up the phone. “Hi, Jacob.” I said.

He was quiet, just breathing. “Ryder.” It sounded like a question more than a greeting. “Come down to the rez. We miss you. I miss you.” He sounded sad and tired. As if to prove my point, he yawned loudly.

I mumbled, “Okay,” and hung up. I grabbed my keys and shoved my phone into my pocket. It was now or never.

*

Again. Stood up. Again.

He'd called to say it would be best if we'd just met at our “spot” and so I went and no one was there. I waited for an hour and still no Jacob. I honestly didn't feel like going home, and the sky had cleared so the sun peaked out from behind the now light clouds. I quickly stripped to my undergarments and stepped to the edge of the cliff. Jump. The air soared around me as I spiraled to the blue green waves below. I twisted and hit the water with another rush of adrenaline.

Being under the water was shocking, to say the least, when I opened my eyes. Everything was vibrant and every fractal of light was iridescent – casting rainbows a mile long through the water. Transfixed, I followed it with my eyes. There was something floating a few yards away. It seemed to glow and pulse, but it had the form of a person. I was frozen in place as it came closer. The light blinded me and the heat from it was almost unbearable. My eyes stung and my lungs burned for oxygen and, when I felt a hand close around my ankle, it didn't help the situation in the slightest. My mouth fell open in shock and water rushed into my mouth and lungs.

“I can't catching a fucking break around here!” A familiar voice shouted as I began to slip unconscious. “Don't die on me, Ryder, you're better than that. You can fight this.”

Another, female voice whispered in the background a line so cliché and cheesy it had to be Marcella, “Don't go toward the light!”

If only it were that simple. If only they knew what had really happened. I didn't have to go the light. The light came to me.

There was no sound except the waves in my ears and smell of the ocean wafting to my nose. I could feel an incredible warmth around me and hear people speaking in a language so beautiful and, yet, so unfamiliar. My throat was raw and burning, my tongue tasted of salt, and my skin felt grainy. I coughed and spluttered, gasping for breath at the same time. The warmth grew closer and fought to restrain me as I thrashed about. “Ryder. Ryder! It's me, Jacob.” A worried voice said.

My eyes snapped open and my hand went to my chest, as if to calm my heart's frantic beating. I sat up straight and looked around. All of Jacob's “family” was sitting around a large driftwood fire. The smell and sound of the ocean was because of the short distance between us and the ocean. Only far enough so that it didn't mess with the fire.

“Breathe,” Jacob whispered in my ear, his warm lips brushing against my earlobe. I shivered involuntarily and nestled closer. He wrapped his arms around my waist and placed my hands over his, playing with his fingers absently. “What happened out there?” He inquired.

“Nothing,” I said. He wouldn't believe me anyway. Hell, I didn't believe myself. Things were too weird around Washington, but I guess it could be worse. Pegasus and a demigod could be flying out of the sky. But, no, the sky was clear of clouds and a thick, crescent shaped, parchment colored silver of moon hung low and close in the sky. Countless stars were littered across the sky, some seeming pinks, blues, even greens, or just the usual silver.

It was breathtaking. Literally. I had to inhale because I'd forgotten to breathe. You need to tell him about everything.That little, annoying voice spoke to me in a soft voice. I contemplated that and figured why the hell not. I was probably going insane, might as well bring someone along for the ride. “Can I talk to you, Jacob?” I whispered in his ear.

He brought us both to our feet and away from everyone else. We were calf deep in water and I wondered, idly, why he'd brought us out so far out of hearing range. “Ryder, I've got to tell you something and it's going to sound so crazy but you're going to have to-”

“I'm being stalked.” I blurted.

He froze, his hands gripped almost painfully at the exposed skin of my hips. “What?”

I nodded my head, “I should've told you before. I've been getting letters and gifts from someone. They're everywhere I am...and I've been having this feeling...like something's about to happen. Something bad...and in the water...something scared me. That's why I almost drowned. It was this weird ass light. Like a person, but no form. It was coming toward me and it touched me and it burned sort of..but not a bad burn just...a burn.” I rambled. I could have gone on, but his eyes were zeroed in on the necklace hanging from my neck. I frowned, shouldn't he know?

“Where did you get that?”

“What do you mean? Didn't you leave it on my porch?”

“No...” Jacob then didn't the single most strangest thing in my life. He leaned forward to sniff my necklace. He recoiled as if I'd slapped him and then his face twisted in confusion, before turning into a strange mixture of determination and fear. “Ryder, I'm a shape shifter.” He blurted.

“Shape...shifter?”

“Yeah, I turn into a wolf. In fact, all of us out there except Emily and Kim do. Marcella and Gabriel? They recently joined our pack. Turns out they're half siblings of our Alpha, Sam, which adds a whole other slew of drama. I swear we should have our own fucking soap opera.”

Shape shifter... I think that was the final straw and my mind was protecting it's last vestige of sanity by shutting down. In turn, I saw nothing, heard and smelled nothing. I felt nothing. I was unconscious.