[ oh, god I have so much homework this weekend and won't be able to keep writing fast. But enjoy and just know we're zooming through new moon bc I miss emmett already ]

☽︎

MY FUCKING PURPOSE IS TO GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE AND GO TO STANFORD.

OCTOBER

Frankie Roman was an angry girl as of late. Everyone knew it. While Bella disappeared into a shell of herself after the Cullen family moved away, Frankie turned into someone different — someone harder and more guarded. And that change translated into every aspect of her life.

At the garage, where she was getting more and more hours, Paul could barely get a smile from her. He didn't know she was pissed about him hiding vampires from her, though. And Frankie was too goddamn stubborn to bring it up.

Everyone else that knew was in the same boat — Raylan, Billy, Sam, Jared, fucking Bella.

God, Frankie hadn't looked at Bella once since that night. Once she knew the girl wasn't going to die of hypothermia, she let herself be mad. Bella lied to her just like the Cullens had. She put Frankie's life — her father's life — in danger by not telling her what they really were. So, if Bella wanted to waste away into nothing up in her bedroom over a guy who left her alone in the woods to die, then she'd let her.

Frankie hated most everyone except her friends from school, but most of all, she hated herself. Because in the middle of the night, in her dreams, where she couldn't control her thoughts, all she wanted was Emmett. She still saw golden eyes and firm, pale skin when she closed her eyes. She dreamt of his lips and his touch, savoring the sound of his deep laugh that used to make her smile so easily.

But none of that was real. Emmett — the Emmett she knew, at least — wasn't real. She never knew him at all.

The anger was present in the band, too. Tyler got a lot more loud solos as their sound shifted in more of a rock direction, all of the songs Frankie wrote being filled with hate for Emmett and the betrayal she felt from his whole family.

Because it wasn't just Emmett that lied to her. It was Rosalie and Esme and Jasper and Edward. They played her for the fool and still were from wherever the hell they were in the world.

The biggest difference in Frankie was on the soccer field. She was already aggressive, but without Emmett in her life, she threw herself into the sport. It was the only thing that would get her away from Forks and the memories of Emmett that plagued her every day. They had to win state, she had to get a full ride to Stanford, she had to leave this place.

If it was one of the rare times that Frankie wasn't angry, she'd turn her head and spot Sam and get angry all over again. He wouldn't fucking leave her alone, always calling out for her, showing up at games, offering her rides to work that she'd turn down. He wouldn't stop watching her like he was waiting for something, and it pissed her off.

Besides, Frankie didn't need the rides. Paul increased her shifts as soon as Emmett was gone — another obvious hint that he knew about them being vampires. Within four weeks, Frankie had the money to buy the final parts of her own Jeep. Now, the green car was speeding up and down the roads, taking her where she needed to go.

Frankie didn't have to rely on anyone anymore.

NOVEMBER

October came and went in a blur, and when Frankie's birthday arrived, she almost stayed in bed. After all, the last party she'd been to didn't go very well.

But this time, her very human friends threw a bonfire down at La Push for her. Bella didn't show up — not that she was invited. Jessica didn't understand why Frankie disliked her all of a sudden but wasn't going to pry until Frankie was ready. She just simply didn't tell Bella about it. Not that she'd have shown up anyway.

No one mentioned Emmett around Frankie, knowing it was just the fastest way to invoke her anger.

Emmett was a vampire.

Emmett was a liar.

Emmett didn't say goodbye.

Frankie hated herself for caring about that last one. Then again, she told him that she didn't want to see him again. She supposed he was respecting that.

"Are you guys ready for the final game tomorrow?" Seth Clearwater asked, coming to sit next to Frankie on a piece of driftwood. His sister wasn't far behind him. Leah didn't want to be there, watching Sam and Emily be in love, but her parents forced her.

Frankie and Tyler had been roasting marshmallows over the fire when the siblings approached.

"Oh, we're gonna kick ass," she told the younger boy. "Tyler, this is Seth and Leah Clearwater. Guys, Ty is in the band with me. He's the drummer."

"We know that, dumbass," Leah said, rolling her eyes playfully. "It's not like you guys are huge all over the area or anything."

"Well, yeah, but you've still never met," Frankie said with a shrug. She went to take her marshmallow only for it to melt and fall onto the sand. "Goddamn."

"Hey, Ty!" Mike shouted from where he was throwing a football around with Paul and Jared. "C'mon. Eric is making me lose."

"Fuck you!" Eric whined before throwing his hands up and joining Angela on the sand.

"Back in a sec," Tyler said, his mouth full with the marshmallow as he jumped up and ran to join the guys.

"Are you having a good birthday?" Seth asked Frankie. He didn't get to see the girl much but thought she was the coolest person he'd ever meet.

"The best," she said, grinning. But all day, Frankie had been remembering her last birthday which was spent with Emmett showering her with affection. "Everyone I care about is here."

It wasn't true, but Frankie knew it would be one day.

"It would've been cool if your soccer game was on your actual birthday," he said.

"No way," Leah denied. "It'd take the attention off her."

"She's right, Seth. I thrive off attention," she said, smirking down at him. He hadn't hit his growth spurt yet. "The band wouldn't have gone on so long if not."

"I'm surprised it has," Leah said, bumping her shoulder. "We're all really proud of you, you know. I mean, I remember when we all thought you were insane for wasting all that gas for shows that didn't pay in Port Angeles."

"I mean, I'm still killing the environment with all the gas I'm wasting getting to gigs," she said, snickering. "Ty's van gets shit mileage and the Jeep is even worse."

The three talked for a while before Seth ran off to hang out with a few of the younger kids. Frankie and Leah fell into an easy silence, both comfortable with the other. And in a way, they were both dealing with their own broken hearts through their anger.

Leah was watching Sam and Emily, who were dancing to the music around the fire, feeling like she was being stabbed in the heart as she watched them. "Fuck that Cullen guy, Frankie. You're gonna be better without him."

"Yeah," she agreed, feeling her anger spike. "Fuck him."

☽︎

"This is it for us, Francis," Elena said, a sad look on her face.

Frankie looked at her mother sharply. For the first time, they were in Frankie's bedroom, both sitting on the messy bed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, not understanding as always.

"Tomorrow. You'll be ready. It's all coming to be," she said, her eyes glossing over. "You'll change. Everything will. You're about to change everything."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, not having the temper for it anymore. "You keep saying that. What does that mean?"

"When it happens, you'll have the power to stop the war or burn the other side to ashes," she said.

Frankie peered at her mother in annoyance. "What other side? What power, Mom?" But then she froze, her head starting to pound. It made her so angry, wishing she could control how long these lasted for once. "No - Don't! Don't you dare go away again!"

"I'm not going away. You're waking up," Elena said sadly. Then she leaned in and kissed Frankie's forehead gently, a tear sliding down her cheek. "Don't forget who you are."

☽︎

Frankie had never moved so fast in her life, not even when she was running from Emmett, as she moved across the field. At times, her friends swore she was a blur, killing it on defense any time the team from southern Washington got the ball.

She'd already gotten one yellow card for a particularly hard tackle, and she didn't even argue with the ref, knowing she'd intentionally hit the girl harder than needed, not even flinching when she hit the ground hard and broke her ankle.

But not wanting to get a second and be benched, Frankie had to reel in the anger inside of her. It didn't matter that Emmett was supposed to be sitting with all her friends and cheering her on with Rosalie at his side. She didn't need him to win a fucking soccer game — she'd been doing it without him all season.

Forks had won the game. The score was seven to zero for god's sake. But Frankie didn't let up as she intercepted a ball in the final thirty seconds and went back toward their side of the field. Her team stayed with her as best they could, but she was just too fast.

The only one even near her was Lakin, who was wide open for an extra pass to get it to the goal quicker. But Frankie just barrelled past her, knocking her teammate down as if she was an opponent as she went to the goal. The goalie ducked a second too late and the soccer ball flew through the air, hitting the net so hard that it ripped.

Frankie paid no mind to her cheering team as she looked at the hole in the net, chest heaving, not feeling much of anything even though she'd done what she'd been trying to accomplish since freshman year. She didn't even fucking care and it was all his fault.

☽︎

Mike was the only one of Frankie's friends still at the reservation. Another bonfire was held on the beach to celebrate the team going to Nationals in a week. But as the night went on and people realized Frankie wasn't in a partying mood, they all headed home for the night. Other than Mike, only Raylan, Sam, Paul, Jared, and Emily were hanging around.

Though he knew Frankie was hurting, Mike didn't want to leave her alone. Even if she wasn't enjoying it now, one day, this would all be important to Frankie again.

"Hey, you rocked out there. You had, like, superspeed or something, I swear," Mike said, chuckling a little. "This is gonna be the coolest thing ever. We're gonna all drive to California for the match."

"Thanks," Frankie murmured, leaning her head on Mike's shoulder. "So, wanna tell me why you and Jess weren't sitting next to each other at the match?"

Mike cleared his throat and looked down at his soda nervously. "I, um, we kind of broke up."

Frankie sat up in an instant, unable to believe that. "What the fuck, Mike?"

He sighed heavily. "I don't know. There's not really, like, a spark or anything. We're gonna go back to being friends."

"There's no spark or Bella's single?" Frankie asked, raising a judgmental eyebrow. She knew Mike like the back of her hand.

Then again, maybe she didn't. She thought she knew Emmett in the same way too.

"Mike, she's obviously not looking for a rebound," she told him, rolling her eyes. All Bella did was sit at the table the Cullens used to inhabit and ignore everyone's existence, including her own father's unless he was waking her up from her nightmares. Charlie had been exhausted since the Cullens left, tired of watching his daughter wither away into nothing.

"I know," he insisted, embarrassed enough as it was that his crush on Bella still hadn't faded. "But I'm just saying Bella doesn't have to be all woe is me. Cullen left you behind too, and you didn't even get a goodbye."

Frankie clenched her jaw and looked at the fire. "Yes, thank you for reminding me of that, Mike. I'd went a whole four hours without thinking about it."

He smirked at her, knowing she couldn't really be mad at him. "You're welcome. That's what I'm here for — to keep you as miserable as I am every day," he said while slinging his arm around her.

"God, no Cullen talk," Paul said as he passed by them. He was getting another drink from the cooler. "Trust us, Frankie's a million times better off without them in her life."

"Right, and why is that, Paul?" Frankie asked, glaring at him. "I'm sure you'd tell me if there were anything bad about them, right?"

Paul hesitated, seeing the familiar rage in her eyes — the kind of rage he was still learning to control. "I don't know what you're talking about, Frank."

"Hey," Mike noted, taking his hand off her shoulder. "You're kind of burning up, Frankie—"

"No, Paul," Frankie said, standing abruptly. "I think you do know what I'm talking about. I think all of you do. Even fucking Emily."

"Go," Sam said, looking pointedly at Emily, knowing what was coming. "Mike, go with Emily and Raylan back to your car right now."

"No, she rode with me," he said, standing as well. He looked at Frankie, seeing she was shaking. "What are you mad about?"

"I'm mad because everyone here has been lying to me for months, and even now when Emmett's fucking gone, you don't have the nerve to say shit!" she snapped, stomping toward Paul. "What? You think I'm fucking stupid like he thought I was? That I don't know you all knew?"

"Frankie, we can talk about this," Paul told her. It felt odd to be the one trying to do the calming for once.

"Mike, leave!" Sam ordered.

"C'mon, son," Raylan said, trying to drag him along.

"You're a liar just like him, Paul!" Frankie accused.

Paul glared at her. "I am nothing like them," he said, grabbing her wrist. "Now calm down—"

"Don't fucking touch me!" she shouted, shoving him back.

That got him even angrier, and Jared cursed while beginning to pull Mike back. Paul went to shove Frankie back, but she punched him in the face hard. Paul dropped, holding his broken jaw that was slowly healing, knowing he'd never been hit so hard. It even knocked him back a few feet.

"Frankie!" Mike shouted in alarm, never having seen her hit someone.

Paul glared up at Frankie, his own anger getting to him as he fought off the will to shift. "Frankie, I'm warning you. One more word about those bloodsuckers—"

Just hearing Paul call them that set her off. Frankie screamed and moved to hit him again. Except her body shifted, her clothes ripping as she grew in size, her bones twisting and morphing into something else entirely.

Paul had no choice but to shift to protect himself as the newest wolf rammed into him. But her assault didn't continue because Frankie seemed to realize something happened to her. She stumbled on four legs, knocking over the bonfire that suddenly looked so small. The beach went dark as the fire was smothered by her huge paws.

Mike, who was still very much there, was trembling at the sight before him. There were two wolves — two fucking huge wolves. The smaller one that was still taller than he was had gray fur and was eyeing the other wolf cautiously, who was still stumbling around in confusion.

The second wolf — but it wasn't just a wolf, Mike knew. He saw with how own goddamn eyes as Frankie turned into it. Frankie now stood on four paws, easily twice the size of Paul, impossibly large with black fur and eyes that were terrifyingly red. Puffs of hot air clouded around her snout as she tried to calm down, which was impossible.

"What the fuck?" Mike whispered, not taking his eyes off his best friend.

"Jared, get him out of here," Sam ordered. Then he looked at the wolf — at Frankie — unable to believe how big she was. All they had to go on was stories from Old Quil, who liked to exaggerate. But he wasn't exaggerating. "Frankie, listen to me. You have to calm down. We're gonna get you to shift back and explain everything."

☽︎

Getting her to shift back was the problem. And it wasn't until thirteen days later that Frankie was waking up on the forest floor, nothing but a blanket laid over her. Slowly, she sat up, feeling dirt on her skin and leaves in her matted hair. Her eyes searched the trees frantically, trying to remember what happened. But the last thing she could recall was getting changed in the locker room before her soccer game.

"Fucking finally."

Frankie snapped around and saw Paul leaning against a tree in nothing but cutoff shorts. Sam and Jared were with him as well, and all looked exhausted and bruised up.

"What the hell are we doing out here?" she asked, her voice hoarse as if she hadn't spoken in a long time.

"Here," Jared said, throwing her a sundress from Emily. "We've got a lot to talk about, so put your tits away."

Frankie looked down, gripping the blanket around her a little tighter. "Only if Paul puts his away."

☽︎

"We're all werewolves?"

"Spirit shifters," Billy corrected. "That take the form of wolves."

"And I turned into a ten-foot-tall wolf because Paul pissed me off?"

"Exactly," Harry said.

"I'm La Beat?"

"La Bête," Old Quil told her. "Or The Beast."

Frankie was sitting in Sam's house with the elders of the tribe, her father included, who was staying rather silent as they all filled Frankie in. After all, he hasn't grown up in the tribe.

For nearly two weeks, she'd been running around the reservation, stuck in her wolf form. And the pack was exhausted having to keep her hidden. It didn't help that Frankie was an aggressive wolf that was bigger and stronger than all of them.

Truthfully, Frankie didn't want to believe them. She accused them of messing with her, but then Jared shifted in front of her, and on instinct, so did she once more. It broke the front porch swing she'd been sitting on. Twenty minutes later, she was another outfit down and back in her human form.

"And I can't talk to anyone outside of the...pack—" It felt ridiculous to say. "—about this?"

"Well, and Mike Newton," Billy said with a frown.

Frankie stared at him in confusion. "Why can fucking Mike know? He's not part of the tribe."

"He was there, Frankie," Raylan said, sighing. "You didn't hurt him but you scared the shit out of him. We had to tell him."

"How'd he take it?"

"He threw up on me," Old Quil grumbled, rolling his eyes. He already wasn't fond of the boy.

Frankie was exhausted by the time they explained everything to her — that threats to the land woke up the magic in their blood and made them shift so that they could protect their tribe. Sam was the alpha of the pack and all his orders had to be followed. They had a mental link when they were in their wolf forms. It was all too much to process.

"Why am I called a beast?" Frankie asked as the sun was going down. It'd stuck with her since she heard it.

"Not a beast — The Beast," Sam said, speaking up as he entered the house. It was the first time Frankie had seen him since she initially shifted back, and she couldn't help how her anger spiked.

"Get out!" she shouted, not caring that it was his house. He was the alpha, so it was his fault. "You did this! You ruined my life!"

"Mekko, it wasn't me," Sam said, his voice hard. "It was your goddamn bloodsuckers. Stanford and the band? That's over. It's not an option, and it's their fault. Your duty is to the pack now—"

"I'm not joining your fucking pack no matter what I can turn into!" she shouted, tears welling in her eyes. Because what the hell did he mean she couldn't go to Stanford and stay in the band?

Sam shook his head, not intimidated by her even if he should've been. She didn't know what she was capable of yet. "I may be the alpha, but it's not my pack, Frankie. It's yours. And if you wanna blame someone other than the Cullens, then it's your mother's fault too."

Frankie flinched back as if he'd smacked her, suddenly recalling all those dreams of her mother she'd been having for the last year. She was warning her of something — warning her of this.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

And for the first time, Frankie didn't get a cryptic, half-answer.

"You come from the Mekko bloodline," Old Quil told her, "as did your mother."

"What the hell does that matter?" she asked, looking at her father.

Raylan sighed and finally spoke up. "Your mother explained it all to me before she died even though she never turned herself. You're different from the rest, Frank."

"Our tribe shifts into a wolf for a reason," Billy told Frankie. "When the first generation of warriors was created, the spirits chose the wolf because of an individual that came here hunting cold ones all the way from France. A true werewolf, one that was bound to the moon. After the cold ones were disposed of, the creature was welcomed to the tribe, and it was there he met one of the chief's daughters."

"Their children proved to be the strongest of all the next generation," Harry told her. "They were not bound to the moon like their father, but they were still different — bigger, stronger, faster, and just as lethal while human."

"Over the years, the connection to our ancestors has dwindled," Old Quil told her. "But it has always remained strong with the Mekko line. Some legends say they can speak directly to them. Some say you are meant to be the ultimate predator — exactly what we need to defeat the cold ones once and for all."

Frankie swallowed thickly, thinking back on her dreams with her mother. Except they hadn't been dreams, she realized. Frankie had been speaking with the spirit of her month and she wasted all that time talking about cryptic shit that didn't matter now.

"You've said that before. Cold Ones. What are those?" she asked with a frown. Frankie kept her meetings with her mother to herself, not wanting to share something so private and personal.

"The vampires," Raylan said. "The Cullens."

Frankie clenched her jaw and glared at the ground. "You all just let me date a vampire. You knew what they were and you didn't tell me."

"We couldn't, Mekko," Sam said with a sad expression. "We tried to stop it, but you're too stubborn for your own good."

"And do they know? About what you - we are?" she asked.

"They do," Billy said with a nod. "And they've known since your first date what you are to the pack, even if they aren't sure of all that you can do. They knew the risks from the start."

"And what can I do?" she questioned. "To cold ones? Can I kill them?"

Paul grinned from his spot on the couch. "Fuck yeah, you can," he said, chuckling. "We all can."

"Spirit Warriors are just as fast and strong as the cold ones — the only thing capable of doing them harm," Old Quil said, his beady eyes fixed on Frankie. "But La Bête is more than just power."

"There's a reason Emmett Cullen was drawn to you," Raylan said in a gruff tone. "They tried to claim you were his mate, but we know better. Mekko blood calls to vampires, not to make them hungry but to still draw them in. To make them trust you easily so that you can do what your true purpose is — kill them."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "My fucking purpose is to get the hell out of Dodge and go to Stanford—"

"Stanford is over, Frankie," Raylan said, his face just as crushed as hers. "You're bound to the land, to the people you have to protect for all time."

"Well, that sounds great, but I'd rather not," she said, scoffing. "I'm gonna leave, marry a hot football player, and live my life and never think about this place or the Cullens ever again, and then I'll die."

"It's not that simple, Frankie," Billy told her with a grim expression. "La Bête is immortal. Other Spirit Warriors continue to age once they stop shifting consistently, but not you. You'll find you're nearly as indestructible as the cold ones themselves."

The eighteen-year-old shook her head and stood from the table. "No. That's insane. You sound insane."

"The last lived for one hundred and forty-two years before a cold one killed him," Old Quil said, remembering the man frozen in time. "You are blessed with life so that you may take the lives of our enemies for all time."

"Awesome," she muttered sarcastically. "Any other news for me?"

"Um, yeah," Jared said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "The team was shit at Nationals without you there."

☽︎

Frankie had climbed up the side of the Newton house to get to Mike's room a hundred times, but this hundred and first was the easiest, already her new reflexes taking over. She could see him through the window, looking at his GameBoy on his bed.

She hesitated before knocking quietly on his window. Mike looked up with wide eyes, going a little pale as he saw who was there. But a second later, he recovered and nodded his head, telling her she could come in.

Not wanting to spook him, she stayed by the window once she stepped inside. "Hey," she mumbled, looking at her feet. "Look, they told me what you saw, so I know you don't want me here. I'm just telling you goodbye. I'm gonna call the school and transfer to the rez—"

She was cut off by Mike throwing his arms around her in a tight hug. Frankie was confused for a moment before her eyes started watering, realizing he didn't hate her. She hugged him back and hid her face in his shoulder.

"You turn into a fucking wolf, Frankie," he muttered, still wrapping his head around it.

"It's so fucked up," she said, earning a nod that she could feel. "Did you tell anyone?"

"Frankie," he said, pulling back from the hug, "if I told our friends you were a werewolf, I'd be committed to that insane place in Port Angeles."

"Well, I'll follow you there," she grumbled. Then she sighed. "Dad said he explained it all to you."

"Yeah. Couldn't exactly doubt him given that I saw it happen," he muttered as they sat on his bed. "But Jesus, you've been out of school for two weeks. Told everyone you have pneumonia. Have you been a dog this whole time?"

"Apparently," she said, not taking offense as he called her a dog. "I don't remember it though. Sam said I can't go back to school until I learn to control it."

"Do you think you'll be able to?" he asked her, worried for his friend. Mike missed her so much already. She could only shrug at his question. "And what the hell was that about transferring? No fucking way are you leaving in the middle of our senior year."

"Mike, it's not safe," she told him. "I turn into a freaking wolf. I could've hurt you that night."

"But you didn't," he said, reminding her of Bella after the car crash. Remembering that just dampened her mood, though. "Look, if you leave, Jess will drag you back kicking and screaming. Just... just learn to control it and come back, okay? It's not the same when you're not there."

☽

"Do you want to go to the movies with me and Bella?" Jessica asked Frankie over the phone. Right now, Frankie was going to school every other day, working up her tolerance. Some people would still get on her nerves and she'd have to run into the woods to shift and calm down, so she wasn't ready to go every day.

"Why are you asking her to the movies?" Frankie asked, staring out at the ocean.

"She reached out to me. Maybe she's gonna start getting better," Jessica said, hoping so. They all hated how depressed Bella was.

"Jess, if you put me in a room with her, I'll spend the whole time hoping she chokes on popcorn."

Okay, that was dramatic, but with her short temper, Frankie couldn't risk being around Bella. If she dared to bring up the Cullens, she'd snap and shift in the middle of the theater.

"God, I'm hating the high school drama," Jessica complained.

Frankie couldn't help but grin. "You love it."

"Yeah, I do."

☽︎

Four weeks later, the pack grew. Frankie was back to going to school every day and could control her shift. She was learning more about the legends and the things she could theoretically do if they were true. And the pack was starting to feel more like a family to her.

Then Embry shifted, having to go through the exact same control process as Frankie. They were side by side during the council meeting where they got their tattoos on their right shoulders.

Sam was anticipating Jacob to be the next one, who was filling out more than a regular sixteen-year-old should. But Jacob was spending an awful lot of time with Bella. The pair were fixing up some old motorcycles, which Embry told them all about after joining.

Frankie couldn't believe it, wondering if Bella was just a supernatural magnet. First a vampire boyfriend and now a Spirit Warrior best friend.

It annoyed Frankie a bit that Bella could make time to be herself around Jacob but still couldn't sit with them at lunch. She couldn't even bring herself to apologize to Frankie for lying to her about the Cullens or for forgetting that she got left.

As the time passed, Frankie was starting to focus on that more and more, especially after learning that the Cullens really were good vampires that didn't harm people. Emmett lied to her and left her behind without so much as a goodbye. He didn't care enough to tell her he was a vampire and he didn't care enough to see her one last time.

That's how Frankie knew his claims of her being his mate that his family made to the elders were false, especially now that she knew what an Imprint was. Sam would never lie and leave Emily behind without telling her, no matter how big of a fight they'd gotten into. Jared wouldn't leave Kim in the woods to freeze to death.

Emmett lied to her. Emmett left her. Emmett didn't love her.

That's what Frankie had to repeat in her head whenever she found herself thinking of him too much. To help her get her mind off of it, the pack was going cliff jumping, taking Embry up to the highest point for the first time.

Since Embry was too nervous to go first, Frankie decided to cut the tension and shove Jared off, who screamed as he dropped into the water. Paul threw his head back and laughed before following after him, shouting from the top of his lungs as he did so.

"You gotta go, kid," Frankie said, nudging Embry a little bit.

"Fine," he said, shutting his eyes with a smile. "No, you've gotta push me or I won't go."

Sam and Frankie shared a look before grinning and pushing the younger boy off like with Jared. He hit the water hard, and Paul and Jared were there to splash him in the face as soon as he surfaced, laughing with them.

"Ladies first," Sam said, gesturing to the water.

"Is that 'cause you're a pussy?" she asked teasingly, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. She didn't care if it made her have thicker fur in wolf form — she refused to cut it all off.

Sam rolled his eyes, this time catching sight of a familiar red truck sitting on the side of the road. Bella and Jacob had both gotten out and were watching the pack. Frankie followed Sam's line of sight, seeing the two of them and getting annoyed.

"Are we sure he's going to shift?" Frankie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"As sure as we were that you would," he said with a frown. "Don't worry about him until it's time. We're still teaching you and Embry."

Frankie nodded before holding out her hand. "Jump together?"

Sam raised a teasing eyebrow. "Now who's the pussy?"

She rolled her eyes and then shoved him without any warning, making him yell while the others laughed from below. Then Frankie dived in headfirst, breaking through the freezing water smoothly, feeling a little less miserable for the first time since September.