I COWERED INTO JACOB'S SIDE, MY EYES SCANNING the forest for the other werewolves.

　　When they appeared, striding out from between the trees, they weren't what I was expecting. I'd gottenthe image of the wolves stuck in my head. These were just four really big half-naked boys.

　　Again, they reminded me of brothers, quadruplets. Something about the way they moved almost insynchronization to stand across the road from us, the way they all had the same long, round musclesunder the same red-brown skin, the same cropped black hair, and the way their expressions altered atexactly the same moment.

　　They started out curious and cautious. When they saw me there, half-hidden beside Jacob, they allbecame furious in the same second.

　　Sam was still the biggest, though Jacob was getting close to catching up with him. Sam didn't really countas a boy. His face was older—not in the sense of lines or signs of aging, but in the matunry, the patienceof his expression.

　　"What have you done, Jacob?" he demanded.

　　One of the others, one I didn't recognize—Jared or Paul—thrust past Sam and spoke before Jacobcould defend himself.

　　"Why can't you just follow the rules, Jacob?" he yelled, throwing his arms in the air. "What the hell areyou thinking? Is she more important than everything—than the whole tribe? Than the people gettingkilled?""She can help," Jacob said quietly.

　　"Help!" the angry boy shouted. His arms begin to quiver. "Oh, that's likely! I'm sure the leech-lover isjust dying to help us out!""Don't talk about her like that!" Jacob shouted back, stung by the boy's criticism.

　　A shudder rippled through the other boy, along his shoulders and down his spine.

　　"Paul! Relax!" Sam commanded.

　　Paul shook his head back and forth, not in defiance, but as though he were trying to concentrate.

　　"Jeez, Paul," one of the other boys—probably Jared—muttered. "Get a grip."Paul twisted his head toward Jared, his lips curling back in irritation. Then he shifted his glare in mydirection. Jacob took a step to put himself in front of me.

　　 That did it.

　　"Right, protect her!" Paul roared in outrage. Another shudder, a convulsion, heaved through his body. Hethrew his head back, a real growl tearing from between his teeth.

　　"Paul!" Sam and Jacob shouted together.

　　Paul seemed to fall forward, vibrating violently. Halfway to the ground, there was a loud ripping noise,and the boy exploded.

　　Dark silver fur blew out from the boy, coalescing into a shape more than five-times his size—a massive,crouched shape, ready to spring.

　　The wolf's muzzle wrinkled back over his teeth, and another growl rolled through his colossal chest. Hisdark, enraged eyes focused on me.

　　In the same second, Jacob was running across the road straight for the monster.

　　"Jacob!" I screamed.

　　Mid-stride, a long tremor shivered down Jacob's spine. He leaped forward, diving headfirst into theempty air.

　　With another sharp tearing sound, Jacob exploded, too. He burst out of his skin—shreds of black andwhite cloth blasted up into the air. It happened so quickly that if I'd blinked, I'd have missed the entiretransformation. One second it was Jacob diving into the air, and then it was the gigantic, russet brownwolf—so enormous that I couldn't make sense of its mass somehow fitting inside Jacob—charging thecrouched silver beast.

　　Jacob met the other werewolf's attack head-on. Their angry snarls echoed like thunder off the trees.

　　The black and white scraps—the remains of Jacob's clothes—fluttered to the ground where he'ddisappeared.

　　"Jacob!" I screamed again, staggering forward.

　　"Stay where you are, Bella," Sam ordered. It was hard to hear him over the roar of the fighting wolves.

　　They were snapping and tearing at each other, their sharp teeth flashing toward each other's throats. TheJacob-wolf seemed to have the upper hand—he was visibly bigger than the other wolf, and it looked likele was stronger, too. He rammed his shoulder against the gray wolf again and again, knocking him backtoward the trees.

　　"Take her to Emily's," Sam shouted toward the other boys, who were watching the conflict with raptexpressions. Jacob had successfully shoved the gray wolf off the road, and they were disappearing intothe forest, though the sound of their snarls was still loud. Sam ran after them, kicking off his shoes on theway. As he darted into the trees, he was quivering from head to toe.

　　The growling and snapping was fading into the distance. Suddenly, the sound cut off and it was very quieton the road.

　　One of the boys started laughing.

　　I turned to stare at him—my wide eyes felt frozen, like I couldn't even blink them.

　　The boy seemed to be laughing at my expression. "Well, there's something you don't see every day," he snickered. His face was vaguely familiar—thinner than the others… Embry Call.

　　"I do," the other boy, Jared, grumbled. "Every single day.""Aw, Paul doesn't lose his temper every day," Embry disagreed, still grinning. "Maybe two out of three."Jared stopped to pick something white up off the ground. He held it up toward Embry; it dangled in limpstrips from his hand.

　　"Totally shredded," Jared said. "Billy said this was the last pair he could afford—guess Jacob's goingbarefoot now.""This one survived," Embry said, holding up a white sneaker. "Jake can hop," he added with a laugh.

　　Jared started collecting various pieces of fabric from the dirt. "Get Sam's shoes, will you? All the rest ofthis is headed for the trash."Embry grabbed the shoes and then jogged into the trees where Sam had disappeared. He was back in afew seconds with a pair of cut-off jeans draped over his arm. Jared gathered the torn remnants ofJacob's and Paul's clothes and wadded them into a ball. Suddenly, he seemed to remember me.

　　He looked at me carefully, assessing.

　　"Hey, you're not going to faint or puke or anything?" he demanded.

　　"I don't think so," I gasped.

　　"You don't look so good. Maybe you should sit down.""Okay," I mumbled. For the second time in one morning, I put my head between my knees.

　　"Jake should have warned us," Embry complained.

　　"He shouldn't have brought his girlfriend into this. What did he expect?""Well, the wolf's out of the bag now." Embry sighed. "Way to go, Jake."I raised my head to glare at the two boys who seemed to be taking this all so lightly. "Aren't you worriedabout them at all?" I demanded.

　　Embry blinked once in surprise "Worried? Why?""They could hurt each other!"Embry and Jared guffawed.

　　"I hope Paul gets a mouthful of him," Jared said. "Teach him a lesson."I blanched.

　　"Yeah, right!" Embry disagreed. "Did you see Jake? Even Sam couldn't have phased on the fly like that.

　　He saw Paul losing it, and it took him, what, half a second to attack? The boy's got a gift.""Paul's been fighting longer. I'll bet you ten bucks he leaves a mark.""You're on. Jake's a natural. Paul doesn't have a prayer." They shook hands, grinning.

　　I tried to comfort myself with their lack of concern, but I couldn't drive the brutal image of the fightingwerewolves from my head. My stomach churned, sore and empty, my head ached with worry.

　　"Let's go see Emily. You know she'll have food waiting." Embry looked down at me. "Mind giving us aride?""No problem," I choked.

　　Jared raised one eyebrow. "Maybe you'd better drive, Embry. She still looks like she might hurl.""Good idea. Where are the keys?" Embry asked me.

　　"Ignition."Embry opened the passenger-side door. "In you go," he said cheerfully, hauling me up from the groundwith one hand and stuffing me into my seat. He appraised the available space. "You'll have to ride in theback," he told Jared.

　　"That's fine. I got a weak stomach. I don't want to be in there when she blows.""I bet she's tougher than that. She runs with vampires.""Five bucks?" Jared asked.

　　"Done. I feel guilty, taking your money like this."Embry got in and started the engine while Jared leapt agilely into the bed. As soon as his door wasclosed, Embry muttered to me, "Don't throw up, okay? I've only got a ten, and if Paul got his teeth intoJacob…""Okay," I whispered.

　　Embry drove us back toward the village.

　　"Hey, how did Jake get around the injunction anyway?""The… what?""Er, the order. You know, to not spill the beans. How did he tell you about this?""Oh, that," I said, remembering Jacob trying to choke out the truth to me last night. "He didn't. I guessedright."Embry pursed his lips, looking surprised. "Hmm. S'pose that would work.""Where are we going?" I asked.

　　"Emily's house. She's Sam's girlfriend… no, fiancee, now, I guess. They'll meet us back there after Samgives it to them for what just happened. And after Paul and Jake scrounge up some new clothes, if Pauleven has any left.""Does Emily know about… ?""Yeah. And hey, don't stare at her. That bugs Sam." I frowned at him. "Why would I stare?"Embry looked uncomfortable. "Like you saw just now, hanging out around werewolves has its risks." Hechanged the subject quickly. "Hey, are you okay about the whole thing with the black-hairedbloodsucker in the meadow? It didn't look like he was a friend of yours, but. ." Embry shrugged.

　　"No, he wasn't my friend.""That's good. We didn't want to start anything, break the treaty, you know.""Oh, yeah, Jake told me about the treaty once, a long time ago. Why would killing Laurent break thetreaty?""Laurent," he repeated, snorting, like he was amused the vampire had had a name. "Well, we weretechnically on Cullen turf. We're not allowed to attack any of them, the Cullens, at least, off ourland—unless they break the treaty first. We didn't know if the black-haired one was a relative of theirs orsomething. Looked like you knew him.""How would they go about breaking the treaty?""If they bite a human. Jake wasn't so keen on the idea of letting it go that far.""Oh. Um, thanks. I'm glad you didn't wait.""Our pleasure." He sounded like he meant that in a literal sense.

　　Embry drove past the easternmost house on the highway before turning off onto a narrow dirt road.

　　"Your truck is slow," he noted.

　　"Sorry."At the end of the lane was a tiny house that had once been gray. There was only one narrow windowbeside the weathered blue door, but the window box under it was filled with bright orange and yellowmarigolds, giving the whole place a cheerful look.

　　Embry opened the truck door and inhaled. "Mmm, Emily's cooking."Jared jumped out of the back of the truck and headed for the door, but Embry stopped him with onehand on his chest. He looked at me meaningfully, and cleared his throat.

　　"I don't have my wallet on me," Jared said.

　　"That's okay. I won't forget."They climbed up the one step and entered the house without knocking. I followed timidly after them.

　　The front room, like Billy's house, was mostly kitchen. A young woman with satiny copper skin and long,straight, crow-black hair was standing at the counter by the sink, popping big muffins out of a tin andplacing them on a paper plate. For one second, I thought the reason Embry had told me not to stare wasbecause the girl was so beautiful.

　　And then she asked "You guys hungry?" in a melodic voice, and she turned to face us full on, a smile onhalf of her face.

　　The right side of her face was scarred from hairline to chin by three thick, red lines, livid in color though they were long healed. One line pulled down the corner of her dark, almond-shaped right eye, anothertwisted the right side of her mouth into a permanent grimace.

　　Thankful for Embry's warning, I quickly turned my eyes to the muffins in her hands. They smelledwonderful—like fresh blueberries.

　　"Oh," Emily said, surprised. "Who's this?"I looked up, trying to focus on the left half of her face.

　　"Bella Swan," Jared told her, shrugging. Apparently, I'd been a topic of conversation before. "Who else?""Leave it to Jacob to find a way around," Emily murmured. She stared at me, and neither half of heronce-beautiful face was friendly. "So, you're the vampire girl."I stiffened. "Yes. Are you the wolf girl?"She laughed, as did Embry and Jared. The left half of her face warmed. "I guess I am." She turned toJared. "Where's Sam?""Bella, er, surprised Paul this morning."Emily rolled her good eye. "Ah, Paul," she sighed. "Do you think they'll be............