Jacobs POV:

After Paul's revelation, Sam and I shared a look and phased. We ran into the woods, silently running and jumping over the underbrush, our long legs eating up the distance easily. The pack was abuzz with the news of a new shifter, especially a female shifter. We could feel Katie's confusion and pain. Her thoughts were disjointed, as if coming through a layer of static.

This was the way it always was with new pack members. The pain was so intense that even if they did realize what was happening they couldn't communicate it. Which meant that we had to locate them the old fashion way.

Not that it was that difficult when it came to tracking Katie's scent. It was so strong now I could've tracked her without trying. Sam ran next to me, trying to keep me calm. My heart was pounding so hard I thought I was going to throw up. With every step closer to her, her scent in my nose, all I could think was Katie is my mate. My mate. My mate.

Calm down, Jacob. Sam ordered me, You're going to freak her out even more. Give her time to adjust to this first.

In my heart I knew he was right. The first change was a horrifying experience and it would take Katie a couple of weeks to adjust. But all I wanted to do was hold her and bury my face in her neck, breathing her in, and tell her how proud it made me to see her defending our pack. I wanted to tell her how I loved how fearless she was. How I loved that she had seen the worst in people and was still kind. How I loved her smile, her laugh, her snarl. How even if she wasn't my imprint, I know I would still love her.

Jared howled.

Yo, I found her. I haven't engaged yet, I figured you would want to make first contact. He said, dropping his inherent sarcasm when it came to imprints. Jared had Kim, so he knew firsthand how strongly I was feeling.

I put on a burst of speed, hurtling to where Katie's scent had coagulated.

I broke through the trees and found a tiny clearing with a wolf laying in the middle of it, softly wimpering.

I took a moment to take in her form. She really was a beautiful creature. Lithe and strong and gracefully proportioned, much like Katie herself. Larger than a regular wolf, but smaller than most of the males in our pack. She was a little bit bigger than Leah, but definitely much smaller than Sam and me. She was a russet colored wolf, like myself, but less brown and more dark red. The coloring was lighter on her underbelly and the markings around her face. While the very tips of her ears and tail were tinged with darker coloring, brown so dark it was almost black.

Damn that's a good lookin wolf. Quil said with appreciation in his voice as he arrived in the clearing. I lifted my head to bare my teeth at him.

Sorry, sorry. I meant: that is a completely average looking wolf that holds none of my interest at all. Quil amended.

I rolled my eyes at him. And lightly stepped forward, approaching Katie. Her eyes were closed in pain, and she had curled in on herself, trying to get as small as possible.

Katie? Katie can you hear me? I tried to get her attention. She didn't respond, which was expected, but she did shift on the ground, a bit of the tension going out of her body at the sound of my voice.

I nuzzled into her gently, pressing my snout to her neck. That got her attention, Katie cracked an open an eye. That vibrant green staring up at me. She slowly picked her head up, some of the pain clearing in her eyes. Her thoughts were still jumbled enough to be completely incoherent, but I felt her excitement at my arrival over our bond.

I licked her chin, watching her ears prick up, as she gradually became more alert. I lowered myself to the ground next to her. When Katie pushed her nose into my cheek, my heart expanded so much it thought it would burst. I bumped my nose to hers and she responded by huffing a breath in my face, I could practically feel her smile. I breathed it in deep, holding onto her scent. A low groan slipped out of me as she pushed her nose more incessantly into my cheek. But it was okay, more than okay actually, it was perfect, wolf attraction required touching and jostling. My heart continued to expand at her blatant show of affection.

Ugh, gross, and I thought Sam and Emily were over the top. Embry thought, pulling me away from the small world I had created with Katie.

Katie's head swiveled at the thought. Her ears twitched as if to hear where the thought was coming from. She was getting more agitated as she caught sight of the pack. Her tail flicked back and forth, showing her nervousness. I nudged her, a comforting touch.

Leah showed up, as a human, an extra sweatshirt in her hand. Her eyes shone with barely restrained emotion. "Here. I brought this. For when she..." she choked up, "...for when she shifts back."

I didn't think of this. Of how this would affect Leah. All she ever wanted was another female shifter. All she ever wanted was someone to empathize with her. And Leah had already grown close to Katie, they had already become friends. But now...I can't imagine how overwhelmed Leah must be right now. I nod my thanks to her.

I locked eyes with Sam, he understood and sent out the message.

Alright everyone. Good work on the emergency at the border. You know your schedules, back on patrol or head home to rest. We'll meet later to discuss what happened today. Sam's message was brief and to the point.

One by one the wolves fell out of the loose circle they had made around Katie and I, leaving to either return to running patrols or go back to Emily's for food and rest.

Eventually they all fell away, even Sam, until it was just me, Leah and Katie. Leah motioned for me to go to further into the woods to phase back. I nodded, even as my heart hurt for having to leave Katie for even a moment.

Leah must have read my reluctance in my stance because she rolled her eyes and said, "Oh relax, you overprotective beast. I can watch over her for the 7 seconds it'll take for you to change."

Knowing she was right, I gathered myself to walk to the edge of the cleared and phase. But Katie felt my movement and whined with displeasure at being left. Her first shift into a wolf meant she only knew basic emotions: fear, anger, love. So higher levels of communicating would have to wait. Instead, to assure her I would be back, I had to speak her language of touch. I leaned down and licked the side of her face and gave her a lingering nuzzle into her cheek. Katie leaned into the touch, her eyes soft.

Taking this as a good sign I got up and headed out. As I did I heard Leah step down into the clearing.

Leah moved forward, her eyes still shining, as she approached Katie. "Hey loser. You just couldn't stand to be out of the loop could you."

I couldn't help but chuckle, Katie made Leah less bitter. They had a unique friendship, I didn't totally understand it, but they made each other laugh. Even the boys had commented on how Leah had made things less miserable as of late. And Quil, Embry, and I speculated that Katie had a lot to do with it. More than once we had caught them watching movies together, complaining about how unrealistic the girls were or throwing popcorn at the boys on the screen.

Moving behind the trees, I phased back and undid the black cord around my ankle, pulling out my shorts and putting them on. I jogged out of the woods, back into the clearing to see Leah sitting next to a twitching Katie, mumbling to her softly, keeping her calm.

Katie's wolf eyes swept across the clearing, her ears twitching, her nose flaring, panic written in her body language. She was obviously searching for something or someone. Me? Katie's eyes locked on mine. Moments passed without her blinking. She shuddered softly, her body shaking. I ran over and dropped to her side, next to Leah.

"It's okay. You're going to shift back now. Stay calm. It's going to hurt but then it'll be over. Just breathe. You can do this." I told her, her trembling intensified and Katie closed her eyes in concentration.

Suddenly Leah pushed me, "Go away, dude."

"Um, excuse me?"

"Go away. She's about to shift back." At my silence, Leah gave me a pointed look. "She'll be naked. And scared. And if our mind connection is right, you've only kissed her once, you're not dating her, as far as I'm concerned you have no right to see her naked. Oh, don't give me that look. I know she's your imprint, but, dude..."

"Leah! For Christ's sake, I'm already covering my eyes and walking away. Jeez, how little do you think of me?" I said turning away and covering my eyes.

Katie gave a high pitched whine, panting heavily. The noise of her scrabbling in the dirt increased and then...a very human, feminine, gasp of breath. My ears picked up on the soft sound of cloth sliding over skin and then Leah said, "Okay, she's all yours."

I turned back to see a pale, sweaty Katie covered in a sweatshirt way too big for her. It went down almost to her knees, completely covering her. Her eyes were closed and her hair was matted to her neck and face with sweat. Leah had stood up and was backing away, giving me space with my imprint.

Behind me, I heard Leah phase and take off, but I only had eyes for Katie. Her breaths had evened as she fell into a deep sleep. The kind of sleep we all fell into after our first time shifting. It was a way for the body and mind to cope it's such a drastic change.

I pulled Katie into my arms, careful to keep her covered. And started walking towards Emily's house. She had a spare room for Katie to crash in. I would take her to my place, but she would be safer constantly surrounded by fellow shifters in case she woke without me there. Not that I planned to leave her side.

As I walked through the woods carrying Katie in my arms I thought back to the weird way Bella had acted. Why has she said I couldn't see Katie anymore? And why did Edward leave to take a call? I bet the tiny one, Alice I think her name was, must've seen something that freaked them out. But that still doesn't give them the right to dictate anything a pack member does. And for Bella to immediately take their side without even talking to me. I shook my head in fury.

Also with what Paul had discovered. Katie was his sister? Well half sister, I guess. Katie had told me that her real mom died right after she was born, which makes sense, Paul's mom died when Paul was only a couple years old.

And we did have half Quiluete shifters. I mean, Embry's mom was Makkah, so we knew his father must be of Quiluete blood and that he was only half but could shift as well.

What killed me is that Katie now had this burden. She had big dreams of college and a career, and all that was ruined. She was tied to this land. Tied to the wolf inside her. And she wouldn't have to be if it wasn't for the freaking Cullens. My arms tightened around her and she shifted in her sleep, murmuring and turning into my bare chest. I took a deep breath, trying to calm the anger flowing inside me.

Just focus, Jake. Focus on getting Katie safe and squared away, then you can be angry. I thought to myself.

——————

A short wall later, Emily's house appeared out of the woods. Katie still hadn't stirred at all. She was in a sleep so deep that no instincts could pierce it. The body had claimed what it needed at any cost, any vulnerability.

Walking up the cobblestone path to the front door, I roughly contemplated how this was going to change Katie's life. Was she going to try to keep doing high school? Oh my gosh, what about Charlie? Would she move over the the Rez with us?

I nudged Emily's door open with one hand and my hip and walked past the boys who were either eating, sleeping, or watching TV. They all stopped what they were doing and stared at me carrying an unconscious Katie. It was a rare day when someone joined the pack. Even rarer for a female. Still, I didn't want them staring at my half naked imprint. I glared at them and being the smart boys they are, they took the hint and went back to their activities.

Emily walked out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a kitchen towel.

"Oh my, Sam came by and told me but I didn't quite realize..." Emily trailed off, then caught herself, "the guest room is all set up, I can help her get dressed if you set her on the bed." Thank God for Emily. She was always so kind to whoever came through her door and never failed to lend a helping hand.

I nodded, emotionally spent from the day. Who knew when I went over to comfort my sick imprint, she would turn into a wolf later that same day.

Emily's guest room was as quaint as the rest of her house. Shifting Katie into one arm, I pulled down the comforter and laid Katie on the bed.

Emily came in with fresh laundry in her hands and said, "Jacob why don't you grab something to eat? I'm just gonna get her settled into bed, then you can sit with her." I hesitated. I don't know why I felt so strongly, but I didn't want to leave Katie. Not even for a second. Emily read this in my face.

She put the laundry down, laid a hand on my arm and said softly, "Hey, I get it. Really, Jacob, I do. But she'll be just ten steps away if anything happens. And I know you're hungry. Go grab some sandwiches and then you can be more attentive when you're with her. Okay?"

I nodded again, words beyond me for the moment. Emily smiled at me and kissed my cheek. "You're going to be an amazing boyfriend and mate, Jacob. Don't feel guilty for taking care of yourself, though." I blushed and nodded again.

——————-

When I came back, my stomach sated from four delicious turkey sandwiches (courtesy of Emily), I found Katie still asleep, but tucked under the comforter and with a quilt on top of her as well. Emily was sitting in a chair by her bedside, holding Katie's hand. When she saw me, she smiled and wordlessly got up, giving me her seat.

"Emily," my voice was rough, "thank you." Emily smiled again, her scars stretching with the movement. "No problem, Jacob. I'm here if you need me."

I settled into the chair next to Katie and watched her sleeping form. I watched her deep, even breaths, the way her red hair fell over her face, and they way her mouth was a little parted as she slept. She was gorgeous, even tired and pale. I brushed some of her hair off of her face and tried to keep my emotions in check.

Sometime later, I stretched a shaking hand out, overcome by this girl, and gently clasped her hand on the bed, holding it in my own. And just being here, being with her, touching her, was enough for me.