“Who?” Jacob asked. “Can you hear me, Bella? Bella?”
“She wasn’t Laurent’s mate,” I moaned into his shoulder. “They were just old friends....”
“Do you need some water? A doctor? Tell me what to do,” he demanded, frantic.
“I’m not sick—I’m scared,” I explained in a whisper. The word scared didn’t really seem to cover it.
Jacob patted my back. “Scared of this Victoria?”
I nodded, shuddering.
“Victoria is the red-haired female?”
I trembled again, and whimpered, “Yes.”
“How do you know she wasn’t his mate?”
“Laurent told me James was her mate,” I explained, automatically flexing the hand with the scar.
He pulled my face around, holding it steady in his big hand. He stared intently into my eyes. “Did he tell you anything else, Bella? This is important. Do you know what she wants?”
“Of course,” I whispered. “She wants me.”
His eyes flipped wide, then narrowed into slits. “Why?” he demanded.
“Edward killed James,” I whispered. Jacob held me so tightly that there was no need for me to clutch at the hole—he kept me in one piece. “She did get...pissed off. But Laurent said she thought it was fairer to kill me than Edward. Mate for mate. She didn’t know—still doesn’t know, I guess—that...that . . .” I swallowed hard. “That things aren’t like that with us anymore. Not for Edward, anyway.”
Jacob was distracted by that, his face torn between several different expressions. “Is that what happened? Why the Cullens left?”
“I’m nothing but a human, after all. Nothing special,” I explained, shrugging weakly.
Something like a growl—not a real growl, just a human approximation—rumbled in Jacob’s chest under my ear. “If that idiot bloodsucker is honestly stupid enough—”
“Please,” I moaned. “Please. Don’t.”
Jacob hesitated, then nodded once.
“This is important,” he said again, his face all business now. “This is exactly what we needed to know. We’ve got to tell the others right away.”
He stood, pulling me to my feet. He kept two hands on my waist until he was sure I wasn’t going to fall.
“I’m okay,” I lied.
He traded his hold on my waist for one of my hands. “Let’s go.”
He pulled me back toward the truck.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I’m not sure yet,” he admitted. “I’ll call a meeting. Hey, wait here for just a minute, okay?” He leaned me against the side of the truck and released my hand.
“Where are you going?”
“I’ll be right back,” he promised. Then he turned and sprinted through the parking lot, across the road, and into the bordering forest. He flitted into the trees, swift and sleek as a deer.
“Jacob!” I yelled after him hoarsely, but he was already gone.
It was not a good time to be left alone. Seconds after Jacob was out of sight, I was hyperventilating. I dragged myself into the cab of the truck, and mashed the locks down at once. It didn’t make me feel any better.
Victoria was already hunting me. It was just luck that she hadn’t found me yet—just luck and five teenage werewolves. I exhaled sharply. No matter what Jacob said, the thought of him coming anywhere close to Victoria was horrifying. I didn’t care what he could turn into when he got mad. I could see her in my head, her face wild, her hair like flames, deadly, indestructible....
But, according to Jacob, Laurent was gone. Was that really possible? Edward—I clutched automatically at my chest—had told me how difficult it was to kill a vampire. Only another vampire could do the job. Yet Jake said this was what werewolves were made for...
He said they were keeping a special eye on Charlie—that I should trust the werewolves to keep my father safe. How could I trust that? None of us were safe! Jacob the very least of all, if he was trying to put himself between Victoria and Charlie...between Victoria and me.
I felt like I might be about to throw up again.
A sharp rap on the truck’s window made me yelp in terror—but it was just Jacob, back already. I unlocked the door with trembling, grateful fingers.
“You’re really scared, aren’t you?” he asked as he climbed in.
I nodded.
“Don’t be. We’ll take care of you—and Charlie, too. I promise.”
“The idea of you finding Victoria is scarier than the idea of her finding me,” I whispered.
He laughed. “You’ve got to have a little more confidence in us than that. It’s insulting.”