New Moon

black-haired leech we killed. The Cullens got her mate last year, and she's after Bella now.'

This wasn't news to me, but I still shivered.

Jared, Embry, and Emily stared at me with open-mouthed surprise.

'She's just a girl,' Embry protested.

'I didn't say it made sense. But that's why the bloodsucker's been trying to get past us. She's been heading for Forks.'

They continued to stare at me, mouths still hanging open, for a long moment. I ducked my head.

'Excellent,' Jared finally said, a smile beginning to pull up the corners of his mouth. 'We've got bait.'

With stunning speed, Jacob yanked a can opener from the counter and launched it at Jared's head. Jared's hand flicked up faster than I would have thought possible, and he snagged the tool just before it hit his face.

'Bella is not bait.'

'You know what I mean,' Jared said, unabashed.

'So we'll be changing oar patterns,' Sam said, ignoring their squabble. 'We'll try leaving a few holes, and see if she falls for it. We'll have to split up, and I don't like that. But if she's really after Bella, she probably won't try to take advantage of our divided numbers.'

'Quit's got to be close to joining us,' Embry murmured. 'Then we'll be able to split evenly.'

Everyone looked down. I glanced at Jacob's face, and it was hopeless, like it had been yesterday afternoon, outside his house. No matter how comfortable they seemed to be with their fate, here in this happy kitchen, none of these werewolves wanted the same fate for their friend.

'Well, we won't count on that,' Sam said in a low voice, and then continued at his regular volume. 'Paul, Jared, and Embry will take the outer perimeter, and Jacob and I will take the inner. We'll collapse in when we've got her trapped.'

I noticed that Emily didn't particularly like that Sam would be in the smaller grouping. Her worry had me glancing up at Jacob, worrying, too.

Sam caught my eye. 'Jacob thinks it would be best if you spent as much time as possible here in La Push. She won't know where to find you so easily, just in case.'

'What about Charlie?' I demanded.

'March Madness is still going,' Jacob said. 'I think Billy and Harry can manage to keep Charlie down here when he's not at work.'

'Wait,' Sam said, holding one hand up. His glance flickered to Emily and then back to me. 'That's what Jacob thinks is best, but you need to decide for yourself. You should weigh the risks of both options very seriously. You saw this morning how easily things can get dangerous here, how quickly they get out of hand. If you choose to stay with us, I can't make any guarantees about your safety.'

'I won't hurt her,' Jacob mumbled, looking down.

Sam acted as if he hadn't heard him speak. 'If there was somewhere else you felt safe…'

I bit my lip. Where could I go that wouldn't put someone else in danger? I recoiled again from the idea of bringing Renee into this—pulling her into the circle of the target I wore… 'I don't want to lead Victoria anywhere else,' I whispered.

Sam nodded. 'That's true. It's better to have her here, where we can end this.'

I flinched. I didn't want Jacob or any of the rest of them trying to end Victoria. I glanced at Jake's face; it was relaxed, almost the same as I remembered it from before the onset of the wolf thing, and utterly unconcerned by the idea of hunting vampires.

'You'll be careful, right?' I asked, an audible lump in my throat.

The boys burst into loud hoots of amusement. Everyone laughed at me—except Emily. She met my eyes, and I could suddenly see the symmetry underlying her deformity. Her face was still beautiful, and alive with a concern even more fierce than mine. I had to look away, before the love behind that concern could start me aching again.

'Food's ready,' she announced then, and the strategic conversation was history. The guys hurried to surround the table—which looked tiny and in danger of being crushed by them—and devoured the buffet-sized pan of eggs Emily placed in their midst in record time. Emily ate leaning against the counter like me—avoiding the bedlam at the table—and watched them with affectionate eyes. Her expression clearly stated that this was her family.

All in all, it wasn't exactly what I'd been expecting from a pack of werewolves.

I spent the day in La Push, the majority of it in Billy's house. He left a message on Charlie's phone and at the station, and Charlie showed up around dinnertime with two pizzas. It was good he brought two larges; Jacob ate one all by himself.

I saw Charlie eyeing the two of us suspiciously all night, especially the much-changed Jacob. He asked about the hair; Jacob shrugged and told him it was just more convenient.

I knew that as soon as Charlie and I were headed home, Jacob would take off—off to run around as a wolf, as he had done intermittently through the entire day. He and his brothers of sorts kept up a constant watch, looking for some sign of Victoria's return. But since they'd chased her away from the hot springs last night—chased her halfway to Canada, according to Jacob—she'd yet to make another foray.

I had no hope at all that she might just give up. I didn't have that kind of luck.

Jacob walked me to my truck after dinner and lingered by the window, waiting for Charlie to drive away first.

'Don't be afraid tonight,' Jacob said, while Charlie pretended to be having trouble with his seat belt. 'We'll be out there, watching.'

'I won't worry about myself,' I promised.

'You're silly. Hunting vampires is fun. It's the best part of this whole mess.'

I shook my head. 'If I'm silly, then you're dangerously unbalanced.'

He chuckled. 'Get some rest, Bella, honey. You look exhausted.'

'I'll try.'

Charlie honked his horn impatiently.

'See you tomorrow,' Jacob said. 'Come down first thing.'

'I will.'

Charlie followed me home. I paid scant attention to the lights in my rearview mirror. Instead, I wondered where Sam and Jared and Embry and Paul were, out running in the night. I wondered if Jacob had joined them yet.

When we got home, I hurried for the stairs, but Charlie was right behind me.

'What's going on, Bella?' he demanded before I could escape. 'I thought Jacob was part of a gang and you two were fighting.'

'We made up.'

'And the gang?'

'I don't know—who can understand teenage boys? They're a mystery. But I met Sam Uley and his fiancee, Emily. The seemed pretty nice to me.' I shrugged. 'Must have all been a misunderstanding.'

His face changed. 'I hadn't heard that he and Emily had made it official. That's nice. Poor girl.'

'Do you know what happened to her?'

'Mauled by a bear, up north, during salmon spawning season—horrible accident It was more than a year ago now. I heard Sam was really messed up over it.'

'That's horrible,' I echoed. More than a year ago. I'd bet that meant it had happened when there was just one werewolf in La Push. I shuddered at the thought of how Sam must have felt every time he looked at Emily's face.

That night, I lay awake for a long time trying to sort through the day. I worked my way backward through dinner with Billy, Jacob, and C harlie, to the long afternoon in the Blacks' house, waiting anxiously to hear something from Jacob, to Emily's kitchen, to the horror of the werewolf fight, to talking with Jacob on the beach.

I thought about what Jacob had said early this morning, about hypocrisy. I thought about that for a long time. I didn't like to think that I was a hypocrite, only what was the point of lying to myself?

I curled into a tight ball. No, Edward wasn't a killer. Even in his darker past, he'd never been a murderer of