JACOB DIDN'T FALTER. Instead, he turned around and took off running into the woods while Lena stood in shock, hand to her cheek. Now she knew what Paul felt when she punched him on that first day, the familiar strength that Jacob never had before stopping her in her tracks. The boy had disappeared past the tree line by the time she got over it, and she was already pulling her phone out and letting the boys know what had happened.

She then took off running, entering the woods and looking for Jake, only to come up empty. The woods were dark, and Lena knew the only way to find the boy would be by scent, so she stripped off her clothes, making sure her phone and clothes were safe under some leaves, and phased on the spot into her wolf form.

Running on all fours was always easier to Lena, she found. It was more freeing when you didn't have arms to control, and even if it sounded a little weird to say, she always would. To her uncle, who wasn't a werwolf. Although, right now, she didn't really feel all that free as she sprinted through the woods looking for Jacob before he tore someone or something to shreds. She also had no idea how she was going to stop him, since the only other phase he'd witnessed was Embry's, and that was in the middle of the day.

She didn't have the mind link that the pack did, because she wasn't part of it. Not officially. She couldn't talk to him in his mind like the boys could, and she prayed that she could hold Jake off until they got here. Reaching a clearing, she spotted Jake curled up on the floor, groaning in pain, limbs contorting in all different directions. She winced, knowing that there wasn't much she could do in terms of help, other than to let the shift take its course.

She waited, hidden, as his body contorted in all different directions, bones snapping and skin stretching. It was agonising for Lena, reminders of her first shift entering her mind. Eventually, though, Jacob shifted fully, a light brown fur coat and four legs in his place. Jake's wolf twisted and turned in a panic, and Lena stepped forward. Her own coat was brown too, but more of a dark chocolate than Jake's, and it blended into the darkness of the forest beautifully.

She threaded carefully along the sticks and mud, slowly inching toward the freshly-turned wolf boy. She didn't have a mind link to rely on, which meant that she would have to stall until someone else who did arrived. Only problem?

Jake was angry.

Of course he was, so as soon as Lena came into his line of sight, he lunged. Lena knew combat, better than before, since she'd watched over Embry's training for his first few weeks as a shifter. So when the light brown wolf leaped for her, she ducked out of the way, letting Jake crash into a tree.

They weren't far enough from the tree line. That's what she noticed when she turned so she was facing the way she came from, still being able to see the faint light of the parking lot they'd left. She had to lead Jacob further into the woods so they didn't get caught and shot by the Chief of Police.

Turning around, she sprinted off into the forest, Jake hot on her heels. She howled out into the night, praying that the pack heard her. Would they hear her? Would that even work? She didn't have time to dwell on it because Jacob was on her back, pushing her down into the dirt. She growled and rolled over, knocking him on his back before taking her place on top of him, baring her sharp teeth. She snapped at him, and him at her, the constant back and forth giving her a headache as Jake tried to push against her.

Then, Jake's head snapped to the left, his movements pausing. The echo of feet against dirt made it's way to their ears and Lena knew the pack was here, talking to him. She stayed steady on him, keeping him down as the pack showed up through the trees. One after the other; Sam, Paul, Embry. Jared was out with Kim and Quil was...she didn't know where Quil was. Sam tilted his head in signal and Lena took herself from Jake, walking over to Embry's side. They watched on—Lena having no idea what they were saying—as Sam talked down Jacob back into his human form.

After venturing back to where she left her clothes and phone, she started walking back to the boys, catching the rear end of their conversation as she arrived.

"—explain more when we get back to my place." Sam was saying. Jacob was now in shorts, long hair tangled and frizzy, sweating with a confused look on his face. The boys were all human again, bar from Paul, who stood protectively in his wolf form my Sam's side.

Jacob was confused, but nodded anyway, and followed along as Sam started to lead them through the woods. Embry followed, but Lena stayed where she stood, her mind whirling about all the past events. She felt a push on her back, turning her head to see Paul's wolf paw pushing her forward.

She scoffed and started walking, "Even when he's a dog he still gets on my nerves."

Paul growled behind her, and she picked up her pace with a roll of her eyes, joining up next to Embry. The two talked as they trailed behind Sam and Jacob, the dark grey wolf following behind the four of them the whole way.

It was late when they arrived at Emily's, the woman clearly had been sleeping when she opened the door to let them in, yawning slightly. Sam sent her an apologetic look, kissing her sweetly before sending her back up stairs to rest whilst he gave Jacob 'the talk'. Embry, Paul—now back on human legs— and Lena sat on the porch outside.

"So what happened? You seemed...mad when you texted us." Embry asked, leaning on the porch fence.

Lena sent him a look, "You could tell I was mad through a text message?"

The boy scoffed, "You underestimate my abilities, Lena."

The girl shrugged, "We were at the movies with Bella, Jake got mad because he's in denial that she doesn't like him back...and then he shifted."

Embry frowned, "And then?"

"And then," She continued, "I chased him to the edge of the woods and he hit me and ran off. That's when I texted you."

"He hit you?" He exclaimed, straightening up from his position.

Lena shrugged nonchalantly, "Yeah. Not hard, but hard enough to shock me a little. It's fine."

Sam poked his head out the door, eyes scanning over them before landing on Embry, "Can I have you in here for a second?"

Embry nodded, following the alpha into the house, leaving Paul and Lena alone on the porch swing. It was silent, the only noise being the occasional car in the distance. Until it was broken.

The girl cleared her throat, "So, why'd you punch Mark?"

The boy next to her shifted, not looking at her, "He was being a dick."

"Jared told me it's because he called me a slut." She turned her head towards him, "I told him that was crazy because you hate me and would probably agree with him, not punch him."

She didn't tell Jared that exactly, but she thought it. She knew the other boys thought it too. Paul's face twisted and he shook his head, "That's not true."

"What?" She turned her body to face him, lifting her right leg up onto the swing, "That you hit him because he called me a slut?"

His teeth gridded, the boy shaking his head so slightly Lena barely caught it. But she did, so she asked, "Then what?"

Paul seemed to be having an internal struggle with himself, his hands flexing in and out of fists as his eyes stayed planted ahead of him, despite the gaze on the side of his face. Eventually, he muttered up a few words, barely tangible because he was clenching his jaw so hard, "That I would agree with him."

Lena heard him, but smirked and asked, "What was that?"

Breathing deeply like the act of admitting the truth caused him physical pain, Paul flexed his neck and spoke up, louder this time, "That I would agree with him. I wouldn't."

She hummed, "Why?"

"Because you're not a slut." He snapped, turning to her, "You're an asshole, you're an annoying, piece of crap bitch, but you're not a slut."

Nodding, Lena turned her body so she was facing forwards again, a thoughtful look on her face, "I'll take it." But then, she looked at him again, "You didn't tell me why you punched him, though."

Paul was getting annoyed, she could tell. But she was having fun, plus she was right, he never answered her question. The boy tilted his head, "I just told you that I didn't agree with him."

"Paul, I don't agree with the green goblin in Spider-man, but you don't see me marching to New York to punch Willem Dafoe in the face, so you?" She quipped with a raise of her brows. "Point is, you had to be royally pissed off to punch the guy, not just in disagreement."

Paul looked at her for a second before looking away, crossing his arms and refusing to speak. Lena shook her head and gave it up, just in time for Sam, Embry and Jacob to come piling out of the house. Lena stood, making a face at Jacob that he smiled at amusedly, before putting his hand out for a fist-bump, which she returned. The four teenage werewolves left Sam and Emily's, chatting with each other as they made their way home.

The next morning, Lena was eating breakfast with her uncle when there were multiple rapid knocks at her door. She stood up, furrowing her brows when she opened the door to reveal Bella Swan.

The girl was antsy, shuffling from foot to foot and fiddling with her hands. When Lena opened the door, she looked up with wide eyes, speaking frantically, "Have you spoken to Jacob? Since last night?"

Clearing her throat, she shook her head, "No—uh, I haven't. I lost him after we left the theatre, I assume he just went home."

It felt awful, lying to Bella, but she knew it had to be done. The tribe secret had to be kept exactly that, a secret. Bella knew about vampires—clearly—but werewolves was a whole other thing, plus Sam would have her head if she knew. She tried to look away from Bella's sad frown as she muttered something about calling her later as she trekked back to her orange truck.

Closing the door, she spotted her uncle stood by the kitchen, staring at her. She sighed, "Jake shifted last night...he's probably going to he ignoring Bella for a while."

On their walk home last night, Jacob ranted and raved about how dangerous it was for Bella to hang around vampires. Sam had told him knowing that if he didn't, Jake would find out some other way, and it didn't go down well with the boy. Lena knew he took it hard when Bella chose Edward over him, but to find out that he was a literal vampire...and she knew that, well—let's just say the boy was not feeling up for quality time with Bella Swan at the moment.

Lena hated being in the middle of it. One one hand, Bella was her first ever friend here and knowing what Jacob meant to her, only for him to disappear without an explanation...she couldn't imagine how hurt she is right now. On top of that, she knows Bella is conflicted about her feelings for Edward getting in the way of their friendship when Jacob's friendship is one of the only stable ones she has right now, and feeling guilty about loving someone never did any good. On the other hand...Jacob quite literally couldn't tell Bella about the pack, not with Sam's gag order. And his feelings about Bella and Edward? Yeah, he was just being a dick on that front. Point was, Lena liked it more when she had nothing to do with Jacob.

Dragging her feet up the stairs and into her room, she laid face down on the bed and sent a groan into her pillow.

The next few weeks were a constant drag, with Sam and Paul out training Jacob, Bella constantly asking her where he was and if he was answering her calls, plus Jared still hadn't told Kim about the pack and was hounding Lena for advice. It seemed as though she didn't have a second of peace in those weeks, even when she spent time with Bella, all she got were complaints about Jacob. She shouldn't complain, because at least she's taking about it and not falling into a depression like last time, but it hurt Lena when she had to lie to the girl who was her first friend here in Forks.

The majority of the time, Lena spent in bed. Writing, reading, or even just groaning into her pillow. She wasn't drifting from her friends, she was just spending some much needed time apart from them, at least while Jacob gets the werewolf 101 from Sam and Paul. She was always ignoring her phone calls and texts...until one day she couldn't.

She was reading a book when her phone went off about four times in the span of two minutes. It was the fifth ding! that had her sitting up and grabbing it to check what the deal was.

FOUR (4) MESSAGE(S) FROM  JARED

ONE (1) MESSAGE(S) FROM  PAULIE

•••

PAULIE
check ur messages

•••

JARED (ASS)
LENA!!!!!!!

JARED (ASS)
come over to sam's rn!!!!

JARED (ASS)
urgent wolf pack stuff

JARED (ASS)
come ready to fight

-mills speaks!!

see that lil paul and lena scene...progress??? hmm

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