KATIE POV

Chad grabbed the front of my shirt and cocked his arm back to punch, I flinched expecting the impact. But it never came. Instead a group of shirtless buff guys came out from the woods, they were all tall, tan, had wicked looking tattoos, and were, yes, attractive. All of Chads friends stopped and looked ready to wet themselves. The biggest one who looked like the leader stepped up and said "Is there a problem here?" Never to be deterred, Chad pushed me away, walked up and said "Yeah there is, you interrupted a very romantic moment for me and my girlfriend" that's it. I'm done with this bullshit. I stormed up to him and with my good arm tapped him on the shoulder saying "Oh sweetie" in a fake voice. Just as he turned, I planted my foot, poured every ounce of my strength into this and just punched to shit out of him. Some of the shirtless guys laughed and gave me appraising looks. Chad look furious and charged at me, but the leader (the one who spoke earlier) grabbed him and pulled him off me, then said "Leave her alone,get your guys and go" I looked back and said "Don't forget the scraps of your ego and dignity, I think they might be back there on the forest floor, along with unconscious friends of yours." One of his friends rushed me and I landed a swift kick to his stomach.

Finally they turned and ran. With them leaving, so did my adrenaline. My head and arm hurt enough that I had to stifle a whimper. Even so a small noise came out of me. I turned to face the strange guys, still shirtless I might add. "Thanks for the help, I'm Katie, who are you guys?" Then the leader guy stepped up and said "I'm Sam, we live on the Rez." I went to shake his hand, his hand was really warm and strong. The next one was tough looking and he introduced himself as Paul. The next three had kind faces, but there eyes glimmered with mischief. They were Jared, Embry, and Quil. The last one was staring at me with a dazed look, his eyes were glazed, even still he was strong, tall, but had warm, kind brown eyes and short dark hair. I smiled at him and said "um..hi...I'm Katie, and you are?" That seemed to snap him out of his daze, he spoke "oh yeah, I'm Jacob, you can call me Jake" "nice to meet you Jake" I replied. I reached out to shake his hand, but the movement jarred my other arm, making me wince and a broken noise escape me. Jacob looked to me with concern. His attention snagged on my shoulder and my bloodied face saying "What happened? Are you okay?" I swayed, me head spinning from the blood loss and the pain in my arm. Jacob lunged forward to steady me, his hands gentle but steady and warm as he held my torso and back upright. I managed to grunt out "Shoulder dislocated. Pop it back in." Sam walked up and said "I can do it. Jacob hold her." He looked at me saying "this is going to hurt. A lot." I snapped back "Really? Thanks for the clarification, I thought it would feel like rainbows and butterflies" he looked shocked, thought some of the boys laughed and I regretted the words "I'm sorry, I get sarcastic in bad situations" Jacobs chuckle rumbled through me as his hands tightened around me. Sam grinned and said "On three. One" I grit my teeth and brace myself. "Two"— the loud crack of my shoulder being relocated interrupted his counting. I yelled out a curse, reflex and anger had me punching Sams arm yelling "what the hell happened to three?" The other boys, Paul, Embry, Quil, and Jared laughed loudly at this. I pushed off Jake facing all of them fully, my green eyes clear from the majority of the pain now. I said "thanks again for the help, I'm new here, could you point me in the direction of the Swans house?" Jacob stepped closer to me and asked curiously "You know Bella and Charlie?" I gave him one of my famous smiles "Yeah Bella is my cousin, I'm living with them for the rest of high school." Jared cut in saying "you don't look anything like her. Also, how'd you run into those meatheads?" I told them the story as concisely as possible. When I told them there were eight guys Paul asked where the other four were and I smiled sweetly saying "Oh they're about three miles back, unconscious, but they'll live." Embry cut in saying "Hey let's take her back to Emily's, we can call Bella and Charlie from there." They looked to Sam for confirmation. Oh yeah. He's definitely the leader here. He nodded and asked "that cool with you?" I asked "Who's Emily?" He answered "My wife." But I saw the subtle shift in his face, his features softened and his eyes seemed to glow. Oh yeah, this Sam is a good guy, I trust him. The boys started walking in the direction they appeared from. Jacob hung back to talk to me. "How do you know Bella?" I asked. He answered "We were childhood friends and when she came back, we became friends again." We talked about my hobbies (Sports, reading, music). And when I told him I love to run he smiled and asked about racing. I just laughed a said maybe when my head wasn't bleeding. At this he immediately looked concerned and said "Are you really okay?" "Yeah, my head hurts and my shoulder aches, but I've had worse" Crap, I didn't mean to reveal that. I saw the question in his eyes, but changed the subject before he could voice his question. My eyes snagged on the house in the clearing. It was cleverly hidden, I would have missed it, if the boys hadn't started sprinting to it. I would have as well, if Jacob hadn't clamped a hand on my wrist and said "Don't even think about it, you're injured." I just stuck out my tongue at him and took off. I dodged his outstretched arms and ran to the boys, they were fast, but years of training had me passing them in last 20 meters to the house. I bounded up the steps and touched the door declaring "I win!" The boys came up after me with shock on there faces "What?" I asked. They just shook their heads and walked in. Jacob looked at me sideways and laughed to himself as he walked in, holding the door open for me. A pretty woman walked up, she was graceful and her face would have been flawless if not for the brutal scars that ran down the side of her face. Sam went up and kissed her cheek, saying we brought a friend. The boys parted so she could see me. "Hi...I'm Katie" I said awkwardly. She dropped the plate she was holding and said "Oh honey, what happened to you?" I cringed "I look that bad?" Jared and Embry were already moving to clean up the plate shards as Quil and Paul raided the fridge. Emily said "Can someone grab the first aid kit?" She said to no one in particular, then to me she said, "Come on honey, let's get you cleaned up." As I followed her to the bathroom, I saw Jacob and Sam having a really intense discussion as he grabbed the first aid kit. Emily led me into a small bathroom and I turned to look at myself in the mirror. Oh. No wonder she dropped that plate, I looked like hell. My hair had slipped out of its ponytail and is matted with mud, twigs, and blood. My knuckles are split, bruised and bleeding. But, the worse by far was my face. From the cut on my temple, blood had gushed to cover the entire side and had dropped onto my neck. The other side of my face was bruised and covered in nicks and scratches and mud. Yuck. Emily gently grabbed my face examining my injuries. It had been a while since anyone had looked at me like that, like they cared what happened to me. When she seemed satisfied that I wasn't going to die immediately she handed me a towel and said "Go take a shower, then we'll patch up your cuts when the dirt is gone." I smiled and nodded my thanks. She smiled back warmly and gently pushed me to the shower and left.

As soon as the warm water hit me, I had to bite back a groan. It felt so good as it worked through my sore muscles and washed the mud off me. Granted it stung my hands and face where my cuts are. As I washed my hair, I worked my hurt shoulder in slow circles trying to get get the kinks out. After I had washed my hair and gotten the mud off me, I stepped out, turning the water off. I dried off with the towel, thinking about the day. I started a new school, went for a run, got attacked and saved, now I'm at practically a strangers house. But I'm really good at reading people, and these guys seemed good. Mischievous, sure, but I trusted them. And talking with Jacob had been...easy, fun. I felt like I'd known him for forever. I realized my clothes were gone and someone, probably Emily had left out some. Shorts and a green tank top. I put them on and shivered in the breeze that came when I opened the door. As I walked back out to the kitchen/living room area I finger combed my hair. Jacob was eating as the three amigos as I liked to call them (Embry, Jared and Quil) were playing video games. Paul was sitting on the couch making snide comments on their skill and Emily was washing the dishes. I snuck up behind Jake and stole half his sandwich as I sat down next to him. He made a sound of distress that I laughed at, even as my head throbbed. While I was eating, Jake asked me questions like "Where are you from?" (Arizona). "Why did you decide to finish high school here?" (Change of pace). How old am I? (15). I answered him in between bites and when he finished he said, "okay let's check out that head of yours" I smirked at him saying "My dear Jacob are you calling me insane?" He smiles in a way makes my heart flutter and says "Maybe not now, but if you don't let me help you, then possibly yes." I just roll my eyes at him as he stands up and motions for me to follow him. He walks to the kitchen sink and says "Hey Em, can we borrow the sink, and the first aid kit" She nods yes, smiles warmly at me and quickly vacated the area, going outside to Sam.

Jacob grabbed the kit she left, gives me a smile and pats the counter next to the kitchen. I nimbly hop up and say "Ok doctor Jake, what now?" He smiles to himself as he opens the kit and grabs the disinfectant and a rag. He wets he towel under warm water and pours the disinfectant over it. He said "I'll start on the smaller cuts" he made eye contact with me, his eyes full of apology "I'm sorry, but this will probably sting" I smirked and said "So, just to be clear, not sunshine and rainbows" He let out a breathy chuckle, and he picked up my right hand. His hands were warm and strong. In the back of my mind, a primal part of me wanted to curl into his warmth, wanted to stay by his side. I was shocked by the rightness of being by him. I was startled out of my shock by him brushing the rag over my split knuckles, I hissed through my teeth, surprised by the pain. Jacob winced as if it was him in pain, and said in a rushed voice "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just don't want it to get infected, and...it's...I...I'm sorry" I grabbed his hand, partially to bring it back to me (seeing as he had moved his hand hand away and the rag), partially to calm the voice in the back of my head yelling at me to touch him, smile at him, be near him. Woah. I've never had a boyfriend, only been kissed in a game of spin the bottle, these thoughts were a little, no a lot, intense for me. I laughed at him and placed the rag back on my hand, "I'm A Okay, champ. Just took me by surprise." He loosed a breath, his broad shoulders relaxing and continued cleaning my hands then he moved to my upper arms. His hands sure and steady. The disinfectant burned and stung, but Jake was there, talking and joking. It didn't hurt as bad with him there. "Which idiot gave you this one?" He gestured to my head. I snorted "the biggest one, Chad". Jacob went to the sink and washed the towel, the water turned rusty as it ran washed out the blood. He poured more disinfectant on it and turned to me. Using the back of his hand he brushed my hair away from my face and off my neck. It was an effort to sit still and not curl into his warmth. Finally he cleaned the big cut on my head and said "Any deeper and you would've needed stitches" I give him an innocent look and say "Unlucky for the boys I left, they might need some" Jake finished bandaging my forehead and offered me a hand to hop down. I ignored it and easily hopped down. A breeze blew in through the opening door and I shivered. I turned to Sam as he walked in, he looked me up and down and said "Well you look less dead" Emily swatted his arm and said "Hey, you be nice" She turned to me and said "You look great sweetheart, why don't you sit down on the couch, you must be so tired. We were about to call Charlie, and explain the...um...situation" I nodded, suddenly exhausted, and headed to the open couch. The boys are still playing their video games but they turned to wave at me, then resumed playing. I sat down, and Jacob took the seat next to me. I shivered again, I felt Jake move beside me and looked over to him taking off his sweatshirt and offering it to me, to reveal a sleeveless shirt underneath. Damn. What do they eat to look like this? His skin had a sun kissed looked, as if he spent all his spare time outside and, man, he had muscles. I realized I was staring when Jacob smirked at me and said "See something you like?" Fighting the redness rising to my face I grabbed the sweatshirt out of his hand and said "You're impossible". As I put his jacket on, his scent surrounded me. It...or I guess he....smells really good, like pine trees and the forest. I finish putting it on and try to calm these weird thoughts, the hoodie went to my knees and covered my hands, I never realized big Jacob is. I yawn and curl up my legs to the side, I lean into Jacob and my eyes start closing. The last thing I feel is the heavy, reassuring warmth of his arm being draped over mine shoulders, tucking me into his side. Normally I would have jumped up, throw the arm off and left, but with Jacob it was different, we talked and bantered like old friends, and wether I want to admit it or not, he makes me feel safe. These thoughts drifted off as I fell asleep listening to Jacobs steady heartbeat, feeling safer and more content than I have in years, maybe ever.