The Wolf of the Snow

A few days later Emily was released from the hospital. I was right in assuming that she would have permanent scars. The whole right side of her face was marred with deep, ugly wounds. The cover story was that she had been attacked by a bear while walking in the woods, and Sam had happen to have found her and carried her all the way to his car, then rushed her to the hospital.

Surprisingly, Emily didn't even blame Sam for what had happened. She forgave him almost instantly. But then again, Sam hated himself for what happened enough for the both of them.

"Sam I'm going out!" I called as I walked out of the door.

He looked at me grimly but just said, "Be safe."

He knew where I was going. 'I'm going out' is our code for 'I'm going to risk my life by visiting a house full of vampires for a few hours.' Or, in his mind, that's what I'm doing. He didn't want to risk our friendship by arguing about it any more than I did. And also, Carlisle did save Emily's life.

The Cullens had become fast friends of mine. They invited me over once in a while, and today they wanted me over because Eddie had gotten himself a human girlfriend. They thought that she might feel a little more comfortable knowing that another "human" was there.

I arrived was before they did, so Emmett and I sat around entertaining ourselves by having staring contests, which he always won, considering vampires didn't exactly need to blink. The others found this to be insainly amusing.

"You're going down old timer." Emmett teased staring intently at me. He always called me that since I was about twenty years older than him.

"You shall not have victory this night young padawon." I said back, staring just as intently.

We stayed like that for a good ten minutes, my eyes burning an insane amount. One of my eyes twitched, causing Emmett to grin, knowing that I was about done for. We were so rapped up in our battle that neither of us noticed when Eddie and the human arrived, until he just had to say something.

"How long have they been at it this time?"

I blinked in surprise. "Damn it Edwardo!"

"I win!!" Emmett boomed.

"I almost had him that time!" I exclaimed glaring at the bronze headed vamp angrily.

"Never would have happened bro." Emmett laughed, calling me bro since he thought I acted more like a guy.

"He's right Ahna, you would have lost just 40 seconds afterwards if Edward hadn't distracted you." Alice chimed in.

Emmett beamed in triumph.

"Humph." I crossed my arms and pouted.

"Aren't you a bit old to be pouting?" Jasper asked from across the room.

"Never!" I answered, wonndering why he was so far away, until I finally noticed the human slightly hidding behind Edwardo.

"I told you not to call me that." He grumbled.

"Did you?" I faked innocence, "I don't seem to recall."

I got up and drifted over to Jasper, letting my wolfish scent mask the humans. I knew that it was strong enough to. He smiled.

"Everyone, this is Bella, Bella, meet my father Carlisle, my mother Esme, and a friend of the family, Ahna. I believe you know everyone else." Edward introdused. I saw Rosalie roll her eyes, she must not be too fond of Bella.

Edward nodded slightly, confirming my suspition.

"It's so nice to meet you dear." Esme said kindly.

"Edward has told us much about you." Carlisle smiled.

"He never shuts up about you actually." I muttered, causing her to blush and Edward to glare daggars at me. I just smiled, showing all my teeth. Rosalie snickered.

"Are you...human?" Bella asked, looking at me in confusion. I could understand that, I didn''t exactly look human.

Everyone looked at me expectantly. We had never discussed whether I was going to tell her what I was or not. They had left it entirely up to me.

"More human than they are." Was all I said, gestering to the Cullens.

She nodded, looking more confused.

After that, the night went pretty smoothly. We all drifted to our own spaces to give him and Bella some privacy, me with Jasper, naturally. He was one of my best friends after all.

"What is your fravorite color?" He asked me as we lay upside down on his bed, playing 20 questions.

"Black." I answered. "What is your favorite hobby."

"Hunting." He aswered, causing me to roll my eyes. "What?"

I laughed, "Nothing, that is just a typical vampire response."

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes.

"What was it like when you first turned into a wolf?" He asked, looking at me.

I looked away and sighed. "Where I come from, everyone in my comunity knew about shapeshifters. Not everyone was one, it was just safer for everyone that they knew. Most of the time, you knew if you were going to turn from the moment you could understand it. It was in the genes. I knew, because my father was an alpha, his mother was an alpha, and both of there parents before them. So there was no question that I would become one too.

"Once you know that it is going to happen, you mentally start preparing for it, so that it is easier to deal with. I was 16 when I first shifted. That was extremely young for someone in my village. It was painful. They always said that knowing it was going to happen made it easier. I don't see how it could have been any harder than what it was. But I had my pack to help me through it. They all came to me as I lay withering on the ground, my bones breaking and reforming over and over again. They helped alot, just knowing they were there."

"Sounds like you really loved them." He said quietly.

"More than anything." I whispered, a silent tear falling down my cheek.

Jasper rolled over so that he was hovering over me, forcing me to look at him. He gentlely wiped away the stray tear, then just silently hugged me. He knew I needed some form of comfort, wether I addmitted it or not. My body shook in grief as I huged him back.

We stayed like that for a long while. Just clinging to one another.