I'd slept through the banging on the door. But I finally came to my senses when I heard the yelling outside my window.

"What did you do? What did you do!" She yelled and I heard what sounded like shoving, "What did you do to him!?" Bella yelled.

"Easy!" Sam cautioned but not to Bella, to the other guys.

"He didn't want this!" She yelled.

"What did we do? What did he do? What'd he tell you?" The elusive Paul snapped standing on Sam's right. He looked pissed and it wasn't even nine. I slowly got out of bed and watched the interaction through my open window. They were pretty far so I couldn't get the best look but I could see the tension and I could hear every word.

"Nothing!" Bella screamed, she was fuming, "He tells me nothing because he's scared of you!"

The guys all snickered and laughed, I wanted to chuckle but I held it in, even if she figured out what we were she didn't seem to understand the whole situation or how it worked.

But Bella didn't seem to like Paul laughing at her, she smacked him right across the face.

"Oh shit."

"Too late now," Jared commented.

I could see the dude shaking from my window. Not good. Sam was telling him to calm down and for Bella to step back. Paul started shaking, he snarled as he phased right in front of her. He snarled and slowly walked toward her.

That's when I'd had enough, "Back off!" I yelled jumping through my window and running towards them.

Bella jumped at the sound of my voice, "Cate? Cate!" She breathed as she ran toward me. Paul snarled, his eyes trained on Bella, she looked back at me terrified, "Cate run!" I kept running, but of course this girl was more worried about me than herself.

I jumped, phasing midair and landing on my paws, snarling at the threat in front of me. I didn't even need to see Bella's reaction to know she was probably more shocked than ever. All the noise seemed to have finally woken up Jacob too. He jumped over the patio and joined me on four legs, the two of us ganging on Paul.

But what surprised me more than ever was when I actually got a good look at him. The two of us froze. In that moment something changed, it's as if someone flipped a switch inside me, and everything looked a lot brighter. The dark-silver furred wolf in front of me no longer seemed a threat. My anger seemed to immediately slip away. I took a step back, away from Paul who was no longer growling at me, but watching me with this strange new glimmer in his eye.

Jacob however was unaware of this change and decrease in danger and lunged at Paul. In self defense Paul retaliated and the two of them started fighting, rolling off into the woods. In that moment I wasn't worried about Bella anymore.

I was worried about him.

I looked up at Sam who no longer looked angry or worried, instead he looked between me and where the guys rolled off to and chuckled, "You may wanna phase back, your friend looks like her eyes are going to pop out of her head," I turned and looked back to Bella who was still watching me, her eyes were practically bulging out of her head. I slowly walked toward her, hoping not to scare her. Once I was right in front of her I nudged her slightly with my head. Telling her it was okay, "Bella go with her, she's got to go get changed, then the guys will take you to Emily's," he chuckled as he turned to the woods, "I'm gonna go check on them," his voice lowered as he laughed to himself, "And I'm gonna ask Paul if imprinting is stupid ," he ran off after them.

I nudged Bella with my nose so she could follow me into the house, "Hurry back! Emily's making muffins!" Embry told us as they waited by the truck.

When I got in the house I phased back, looking at Bella face to face for the first time in months, "Hey," I gave a shy smile as I walked over to my room and grabbed a sports bra and shorts. Once I was dressed I smiled, "Don't I get a hug?" She didn't hesitate to squeeze me with as much force as her little human body could handle. I giggled, "I missed you too, now c'mon I'll explain everything when we get to Emily's."

We walked out of the house and Jared and Embry were sitting in the bed of her truck waiting for us. I drove the car and the guys practically tripped over each other trying to get to the door. I opened the door and went to follow them only to see Bella still sitting in the car

"I think we should go back to see if Jacob's okay," She said through the window.

Jared however retorted with, "I hope Paul sinks his teeth into him. Serves him right!"

"No way!" Embry challenged, "Jacob's a natural! You see him phase on the fly?"

I coughed, "I did that too!" I reminded them.

Embry shrugged, "I got five bucks that says Paul doesn't touch him," I shook my head these guys were always making bets, the three of us turned back to the truck where Bella still sat in the passenger seat, "C'mon in Bella. We don't bite!"

"Speak for yourself-" Jared muttered and I hit him upside the head.

"Go inside, friggen animals. The both of you!" I scolded, shoving the both of them toward the door before walking back to the car, "They're really cool once you get to know them," I promised then paused remembering, "Oh and Emily is a sweetheart. But don't stare at her scar okay?" I prefaced, she nodded and we walked in.

Inside the quaint little house Jared and Embry were already seated at the small table. I walked up behind Emily and gave her a hug slightly startling her.

"Cate!" She breathed catching her breath from the mini heart-attack I gave her, "I hate when you do that!" She laughed as she kissed my cheek and passed me a chocolate chip muffin. She saw Bella standing at the door, "Who's this?"

"Bella Swan, who else?" Embry joked causing a small smile to peek through Emily's face.

"Ah, so you're the vampire girl."

"So...you're the wolf girl?" Bella stated making it sound more like a question.

Emily laughed, "Guess so. I mean. I'm engaged to one at least," I smiled at the delicate ring that Sam gave her on her finger, She placed the overly large plate of muffins on the table in front of the guys, Jared immediately went to take two causing Emily to grab his arm roughly, "Save some for your brothers. And ladies first!" She motioned over to Bella offering her a muffin.

Bella accepted before zeroing in on me, "So you're...?"

I nodded, "An attractive dog, I know." I laughed.

"You know what I mean Cate. You were never-"

"Nope, you just assumed I was," I shrugged, "Figured it would be easier than correcting you."

Embry laughed, "I still can't believe you thought she was a bloodsucker for a year!" I hit him over the head roughly, they should at least try to refrain from using the derogatory terms around her.

Bella picked at her muffin, "You were always different," she reminisced. I smiled, glad this wasn't an issue and I would no longer have to hide it from her.

"Leave it to Jacob to find a way around Sam's gag order," Emily shook her head.

I smirked, "Everyone loves a good loophole!"

"Uhm, he didn't say anything to me."

"That's a wolf thing," Embry informed, "Alpha's orders get obeyed whether we want them to or not. And check it out, we can hear each other's thoughts!"

Jared shot him an annoyed look, "Would you shut up! These are trade secrets damn it! This chick runs with vampires!"

"Jared, run with vampires. She gets carried by vampires," we all laughed at my comment.

Bella nodded, "They're pretty fast."

"Well we're faster!" Jared sassed trying to sound cocky, "Freaked out yet?"

She shook her head, "You're not the first monsters I've met. And Cate wouldn't hurt me," I nodded.

Sam came through the door, "Jake and Cate were right. You're good with weird," he went right up to Emily giving her little kisses all around her face and scar before planting one on her lips. I aw'ed obnoxiously like I always do, earning a look from the both of them before Sam whispered something in her ear and she looked at him shocked.

"Really! He did? That's so cute!" She coo'ed looking at me happily. I looked at them confused but snapped out of it when I heard laughing getting closer to the house. Paul walked in without even glancing in Bella's direction, yet his eyes immediately found mine standing right next to her. He's definitely attractive, I'm not gonna lie. His eyes were dark, like the forest at night, his had the same short cropped hair I was used to with the guys and a nice toned body. He caught me checking him out and gave me a smirk before looking back at Bella and giving her a small "Sorry." Jacob and Bella left so they could talk, I however stayed at the house with the others.

Sam gave us a report, "Last night I chased that redheaded one again," he announced and my head shot up, "Made it up to the Canadian boarder. We'll get her when she comes back."

I hadn't heard this, "Wait, a redhead? When did she start coming around?" I leaned forward on the table.

"Around the time we killed the one with the dreads. Jake and I both tried to handle her but she's quick. Keeps getting away. If only we knew what she was after."

I sighed, "I know what she wants," all eyes were on me, "She wants to kill Bella," I spent the rest of the night explaining to them what happened last year. How now Laurent was supposed to report back to her, but since we ended him she's come herself, "We need to protect Bella," I stated.

"We will," Sam nodded, "We'll set up a round the clock guard for her house. The redhead won't get to her while she's home. During the day we'll try to keep her here as often as we can."

We all nodded in agreement. I got to my feet, "I should go check on her now. Since she knows I'm here she probably trusts me more than anyone else," I bid before leaving.

The moment I was gone I heard the others all shouting something about an "imprint". That's the second time I'd heard that term and I still had no idea what it meant. We didn't have anything like that in my tribe. I shook it off as I quickly ran to Bella's.

~

I started staying the night with Bella, Charlie was surprisingly very happy to see me back; giving me a tight hug. I would stay up almost all night like a guard dog, then in the morning the guys and I were tracking through the woods. Victoria was becoming more confident, getting a lot closer but never actually coming into town. I knew that Charlie was hunting the pack, but we were careful. Harry was helping to hide our tracks.

We were all scouting around trying to find her, of course it was just my luck that I saw her. She had Harry by the collar of his shirt. I tackled her off of him but slid down the hill so I couldn't get caught by the hunters.

Jacob helped me up and the two of us faced her. She looked between the two of us like a stone. We ran to her, trying to get her before she could flee but she jumped over us with acrobatic ease. We trailed her with the guys following swiftly. We tried to keep formation while we ran, but that quickly flew out the window as she was getting away.

We's made it to the edge of the cliff and watched her dive into the sea. We couldn't follow her down but we huffed as we started to retreat.

"You okay?"

I looked behind me and saw Paul watching me as I started at that little ripple in the water that Victoria disappeared into. I nodded.

"I'll be better once we get the bitch."

There we stood, I was disappointed, but quickly snapped out of my thoughts when I saw probably the most stupid thing ever. Bella jumping off a damn cliff. Jacob and I ran, he shifted back, pulling on shorts as he ran to her. The others ran off having heard about Harry's heart attack but I couldn't go without not knowing for sure that Bella was alright.

I stood at the edge of the beach, my arms crossed over my chest as I waited for Jacob to resurface with her. He dragged her back to shore breathing deeply as he tried to catch his breath. He laid her in front of us and took a second as I proceeded to perform CPR on her.

"You CANNOT die on me Bella! You hear me!?" I screamed as I kept pumping her chest trying to keep her heart beating. Jacob gave her mouth to mouth resuscitation, I finally relaxed when she gagged and spit the salt water out of her mouth.

Her lips slowly turned from purple to their regular pink color and she slowly went from dead pale to Bella-pale.

"Guys?" She looked around confused.

Jacob helped her sit up, "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I just wanted to see something..." she whispered.

I groaned, "You're trying to see him again Bella! God-damnit you could've died!" I yelled annoyed.

"Get her home! I'm gonna go help out over at Harry's place!" Sam yelled before running back, Paul was with him, but looked a bit... I don't know...sad as he ran with Sam.

Bella looked at us confused, "What happened to Harry?"

I frowned, "Victoria...He had a heart attack..." I blinked away the tears at the kind man, then helped her get to her feet, "C'mon, I'm staying the night with you again."