Chapter 6 – Wild Animals

Renesmee

We walked for a while more, trying to cover as much ground as possible before stopping for the night. I watched as our shadows lengthened on the path in the orange light of dusk until the sun fully disappeared behind the mountains and the world was bathed in twilight. Darkness fell quickly after that, and while I continued to attempt conversation, Jacob seemed to grow evermore tense and tight-lipped the farther south we walked.

He wasn’t happy about my decision to travel in this direction, that much was clear. It meant an extra day on the road compared to how quickly he must have made the journey on his own, but there was really no other choice. It wasn’t as if we could abandon the animals out here. The mule was carrying our food and some clothes and other personal belongings of mine, and Noble… Well, I had to admit to pure selfishness there. Noble had been my horse for years, and had become a dear and loyal friend. He was completely devoted to me, and would no doubt continue following us even if we tried to set him free and send him back the way we had come – a fact that, I had to admit, actually pleased and relieved me. He would be my comfort in that strange land, the one piece of home that I could take with me. I didn’t know what I would do without him there.

Still, it was a huge inconvenience to ask of Jacob. I was determined to keep going as long as I could and lessen the delay he would have to put up. But as the night deepened around us, I found myself fighting to keep my eyes open, battling my heavy eyelids with every step. It was a losing battle. After what felt like hours of trudging along in near-silence, I felt my head dip forward like a sleepy ragdoll, my fatigue finally getting the better of me. My feet snagged on each other as I tried to keep walking, but then Jacob was there, catching me just as I began to pitch forward. He scooped me up easily, cradling me against his chest as though I weighed nothing at all.

“I can walk,” I gasped in protest, jolted awake by the sudden movement.

“Sure you can,” Jacob muttered back. He glanced down at me, a small smile softening his features after a moment. “It’s okay, I’ve got you.”

“Jacob-”

“Shh. Sleep.”

I sighed and leaned my head against his chest, grudgingly admitting defeat as a wide yawn overtook me. His arms held me securely as he continued to walk, the heat radiating off of him enveloping me like a cocoon and I felt myself begin to relax again. The warmth seeped into my bones, spreading through me from head to toe and filling me with a sense of peace and safety, as if nothing could possibly go wrong so long as I was right here, with him. My eyelids drooped, and I snuggled closer to him, pressing my cheek into his chest, and in my sleep-muddled mind I wanted nothing more than to stay there in his arms forever.

I was momentarily woken by a change in Jacob’s gait, and when I opened my eyes it was to find him lowering me carefully to the ground. “Don’t go,” I insisted sleepily, trying in vain to hang onto his arms.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said softly, and I could hear the smile in his voice. “I’ll be right back, don’t worry.” And then his silhouette disappeared from my view.

I must have slipped back into sleep, because the next thing I knew, a huge warm mass was sidling up to me, pushing up against me as if offering itself as a pillow. I gratefully snuggled into its fur, breathing in its earthy, spicy scent. The thing hummed encouragingly, the sound thrumming through my whole body, and I smiled in response as sleep claimed me once more.

I dreamed of a many-headed creature peering down at me through the dark, its hundreds of faces contorting in all manner of emotions from curiosity to fear, anger to astonishment. From its mouths came an indistinguishable babble of voices, all talking over and through each other, the sound ebbing and flowing like the waves of the sea.

The creature was vast and powerful, and threatened to swallow me whole, but I simply closed my eyes, holding fast to the protective fur coat surrounding me, and knew it could not touch me.

The world was grey with early morning light when I woke, the distant cries of birds and the rustle of the wind in the trees greeting me as I came to. I lay on my back for several minutes, blinking my eyes up at the swaying boughs above me, sleepily disoriented by their waving. Since when did we have such big trees in our kingdom? And since when did I fall asleep under them? I was mulling over these and other mysteries of the universe when a movement caught my eye, pulling my gaze back down to earth.

Across the little clearing from me, Noble and the mule both stood tethered to a slim tree trunk, quietly picking at the grass at their feet, and, halfway between me and them, sat Jacob. He had one of the mule’s saddlebags open on the ground beside him and was rifling through it, setting out an assortment of food on a cloth on the ground in front of him. The other saddlebag, I discovered when I pushed myself up to a sitting position, had been placed behind my head as a pillow.

Jacob looked up at my movement, a wide smile immediately spreading across his face when our eyes met. “Morning,” he said, and held up an apple in one hand. “Want some breakfast?”

I blinked, returning his smile. “Sure.” It took a moment of squirming to find my way out of the blankets wrapped around me. They were tucked so securely, like a baby’s swaddling, that I realized I couldn’t possibly have done that myself, especially not in my sleep addled state last night. And there was only one other person around with opposable thumbs…

I straightened at last, brushing imaginary dust from my skirt and fighting a blush as I turned back to Jacob. “Did you sleep well?” I asked politely, sinking to the ground beside him and accepting the apple he offered me.

Jacob’s eyes flashed up to mine, then he smiled a slow, crooked smile. “Yeah. Yeah, I slept great. What about you? Any more interesting dreams?”

I paused around a bite of my apple, watching him. “No,” I said at last, ignoring the wisps of sleep still clinging to my mind. Something warm and furry beside me, thousands of voices all chattering in my head at once… I shook my head, then glanced around, hoping to change the subject. “Where are we?” I asked, looking up at the swaying trees around us. The foliage was thicker here than any I had ever seen before; I could barely make out open fields between the most distant tree trunks.

“Still on the road south,” Jacob answered, continuing to rummage through the pack of food beside him. “I just veered off it a little ways to make camp last night. We should hit the sea in an hour or two.”

I looked up at him sharply. “An hour or two? Jacob… Did you walk all night?” Last I had checked, we were easily half a day from the coast.

“Most of it,” he shrugged, nonplussed. He sniffed at a cheese wheel, put it back, and then finally settled on a loaf of bread, which he bit into without bothering to cut it into slices.

“Aren’t you tired? You were carrying me all that time…” I added, feeling my face flush anew as I remembered how he had saved me from falling flat on my face in the middle of the road.

Jake snorted, giving me an amused look. “Please. I’ve eaten meals that weigh more than you. And I’m used to working on only a few hours of sleep anyway. Just part of the job,” he said, shrugging again.

“The job?” I echoed as I got to my feet, moving past Jacob to where the animals stood tethered across the clearing.

“Yah, you know,” he said around a mouthful of bread, before swallowing and continuing. “Being a Shifter, I mean.”

“That’s a job?” I asked, looking back at him as I offered Noble the core from my apple. He sniffed it once, then delicately plucked it up from my open palm, crunching it to bits in a matter of seconds. I smiled, patting his nose as he nuzzled my hand again, looking for more treats.

“Well, yeah,” Jacob said, taking another bite. “We patrol the border, keep the peace, settle disputes. We basically run the country.”

“And all just because you were born with the ability to change into a wolf whenever you want?” I asked, smiling over at him.

He shrugged, polishing off the last of his loaf and climbing to his feet as well. “There are worse gigs,” he said, slowly walking toward me and the animals.

Noble tensed at his approach, ears flickering nervously, but otherwise gave no outward sign of fear or alarm. I glanced up at him, then back at Jacob, who was still closing the distance between us with slow, even steps, his eyes locked on Noble.

“Jake…” I started, my tone cautioning. “I don’t think-”

“Just watch,” he said quietly, taking another careful step forward.

I held my breath as Jacob finally drew near, waiting for Noble to rear or try to bolt. He did neither, though, instead only pulling his head away and pawing at the ground nervously with one hoof when Jacob stopped beside me.

“I can’t believe he let you get this close,” I breathed, staring in wonder at them both. “You were able to tether them last night without a problem?”

He nodded, one side of his mouth pulling up in a lopsided smile. “Turns out I’m not bad at sweet-talking these animals of yours. Of course, it did seem to help that I was still carrying you.”

I snorted. “Or maybe Noble’s just smart enough to know you’re all bark and no bite,” I teased, grinning up at him as I slid my hand around his arm and turned to lead him back toward our little camp, leaving the animals to graze in peace once more.

He slanted a look down at me. “Careful, Ness, or I might have to show you just how much bite I have.”

“Ooh, I’m terrified,” I mocked, releasing his arm to go pick through the pack of food again.

“You should be,” Jake said, following me. I pulled out the cheese wheel he’d discarded earlier.

“Mm-hm,” I hummed, looking through the bag’s smaller pockets until I found a knife. “Do you want any of this?”

“Don’t you know you shouldn’t feed wild animals?” Jacob said, crossing his arms with a small smirk.

“Bit late for that,” I quipped, grinning.

“Oh, I don’t know.” He uncrossed his arms, stepping closer so that he towered over me. I tipped my head back, staring up at him. Gently, he pulled the cheese and the knife from my hands, holding them up for me to see. “This stuff doesn’t really do it for me, ya know? Now, what I’ve really been craving,” he said, he voice turning husky as he slowly began to lean down toward me. I felt my eyes widening as he filled my field of vision. “Is some nice… tender… young meat.”

I blinked, then instinct seemed to take over and I turned and bolted. Jacob laughed once, then let out a kind of low snarl and gave chase, tossing the cheese and knife aside as he came running after me.

I darted into the trees, letting out a startled laugh when I glanced back to find Jacob crashing through the brush behind me, gaining with every step. I ran deeper into the grove, lunging for the first big tree I saw and hiding behind its thick trunk, and had to resist the urge to peek back to see where he was. Pressing my hands to my mouth, I tried to fight off the giggles and the giddy smile that threatened to break across my face, and it was then that I noticed the pale figure regarding me from the next tree trunk.

He was a man of medium build, with long blond hair held back in a low ponytail and the most piercing blue eyes I had ever seen. He smiled languidly from where he leaned against the tree across from mine, and I felt a chill run up my spine at the sight. The world seemed impossibly still and silent around us, all movement swirling to a stop around me and him and the meager yards separating us.

Somewhere behind me, Jacob seemed to be choking, snarling out something that sounded almost like my name. The blue eyes switched from me to him, the smile widening until it was downright predatory, and he straightened from the tree trunk, coiling to spring. I flinched at the rush of wind passing me and the blur of movement in the corner of my eye, but the man flew right past me – and straight at Jacob.

I heard them collide with an eruption of snarls and the audible snapping of teeth, the stranger hissing like a wildcat. I stood frozen against my tree, my hands still clamped over my mouth, too terrified to even move as they tore into each other behind me. I flinched at each new snarl, Jacob’s words from last night playing through my head once more as the sounds of their fighting grew more distant, tumbling and crashing away from me through the trees. He said the Volturi were fast, powerful, ruthless… Jacob was a warrior, but could this man, this creature, be stronger than him?

The seconds ticked by as I stood there, my body beginning to quake as the full terror of that thought overtook me. Somewhere off in the distance, I heard one last furious snarl from the monster, and then, shooting through me like a bolt of lightning and jolting me out of my trance-like state, the howl of a wolf.

I launched myself away from the tree trunk, scrabbling frantically over the roots as I spun around to rush back to our camp. A few yards behind my hiding place, carelessly tossed aside and crumpled on the ground, I came upon what appeared to be Jacob’s leather trousers. I stared at them, my panicked mind refusing to make sense of what I was seeing, and so simply scooped them up and took off toward the clearing again.

The run back was farther than I expected – I hadn’t realized I’d strayed that far into the woods. But then, finally, there was the camp, off to my left. I dashed toward it, bursting from the treeline as my head whipped around to make sure it was all clear. I couldn’t tell where the fight was anymore, the sounds of rustling, crashing, and snarling seeming to echo through the forest on all sides.

I made a beeline for Noble, quickly untying him and the packmule from their tree and tethering them together for travel.  Pulling them out into the middle of the clearing with me, I grabbed up the two saddlebags Jacob had taken out earlier, and it wasn’t until I had thrown them across the mule’s back that I realized what exactly I was doing.

I stepped away from the animals, staring down at the trousers still slung over my arm as their meaning finally sank in. I had only grasped the reality of the situation through vague instinct before, but now full understanding settled heavily around me.

Jacob was no longer human.

Jacob was gone.

And in his place was the ravenous beast he’d held at bay all this time.

The knowledge left me cold, desolate, as though I had just lost something precious. I felt the steel cable attached to my chest again, pulling on me, stealing my breath, thrumming and aching as though stretched to its limit. Somehow I knew, at the other end of the cable was Jacob, wherever he had gone, wherever he disappeared to when the wolf took over, and if I just willed it enough, I could get him back, I could pull on the cable connecting us, hand over hand, bit by bit, and then–

I bit my lip, catching myself. Let out a breath. I didn’t have time for this. Carefully, I wadded the leather up under one arm and reached for Noble’s reins with the other. I had to focus. I had to be rational. My life literally depended on it. Jacob might not be here anymore, but the wolf was out there, and it would no doubt be coming back for me once it finished with the vampire. I didn’t plan on being here when it did.

Noble stamped his feet as I pulled him around, ears flicking agitatedly, and then, suddenly, he whinnied, high pitched and fearful. I barely managed to hang onto his reins as he jerked away from me, all but pulled off my feet by his sharp movement. My eyes swept the trees as I tried to hang on to him, simultaneously attempting to soothe him and pinpoint the threat that had set him off.

It was only a moment before my eyes found what his animal instincts had already identified: a wolf, easily as tall as the horse beside me, stalking toward us through the trees.

I felt the color drain from my face, even as some part of me wondered if Noble could outrun him. Not for long, and certainly not with the mule in tow. I tried not to calculate how much longer I had to live. The wolf broke into a run, barreling out of the trees toward us, and Noble went berserk. He reared back on his hind legs with a terrified whinny, yanking me clean off my feet. I managed to disentangle myself from his reins before he pulled my arm from its socket, falling to my hands and knees directly in front of him – and below his churning hooves.

As I moved to scramble away, I had one split second in which I glanced up to find the wolf bearing down on me, its predator’s eyes locked on me, ready to bite, to tear, to kill – and then it was leaping over me, its snarls colliding with Noble’s high-pitched cries behind me.

I sucked in greedy breaths, unsure how I was still alive, and looked back over my shoulder as I shakily climbed to my feet. Behind me, the giant wolf was shoving Noble back with its shoulder, growling and baring its teeth as the horse continued to panic, tearing at the furry auburn mass with his hooves. In spite of this, the wolf made no move to actually harm him, instead simply pushing him back step by step like a well-trained shepherd dog.

It was then that the smell reached me.

I gagged, feeling my stomach revolt and my throat constrict in protest. I felt my knees buckle all over again, and lowered myself shakily back to the ground, my vision beginning to swim as that scent poured over me in waves.

It was blood. Fresh blood. And it was coming from the wolf.

The animal chose that moment to turn back toward me, Noble having been sufficiently herded away. It padded toward me on quick paws – paws that were easily as big as my entire torso, if not more – and I could do nothing but stare up at it in dread. The blood scent was stronger than ever now, making my head throb. It would be so easy to kill me. I wouldn’t even put up much of a fight with that scent clouding my mind. He could bite me clean in two and be done with it.

The wolf stopped, lowering its head until its nose was almost in my face, and then, to my surprise, it let out the most pitiful canine whine I had ever heard.

I blinked bleary eyes up at it. Well. That wasn’t quite what I’d been expecting. Why hadn’t I been killed and eaten yet? I knit my brows, trying to think past the haze of the blood.

At the change in my expression, the wolf whined again, bumping my cheek with the end of his nose. My eyes flew open to stare up at him again, and his huge black eyes stared back, earnest and questioning. When I didn’t say or do anything in response, he whined once more, insistent.

“I don’t know what you want,” I managed at last, the effort to string a sentence together making me squint in concentration. In vain, I covered my nose and mouth with one hand, hoping to block out the smell. It was so strong, with the wolf standing over me like this…

“Please,” I ground out, trying to breathe through my mouth instead. No good, because then I could taste it. “Please, the smell… I can’t take the smell of blood…”

The wolf pulled back, grumbling in the back of his throat, and my foggy mind went so far as to assign emotions such as ‘surprised’ and ‘inquiring’ to his reaction, as if the beast could actually understand my words. I clenched my teeth, trying to think straight, and then jumped when a cold, wet nose suddenly bumped my hand, nuzzling at it pointedly. I blinked several times and followed his movements down to the hand that was lying limply at my side, still clutching Jacob’s wadded up trousers.

“You… want these?” I asked, feeling a little crazy as I held the pile of leather out to the animal, and then only crazier when he nodded emphatically, his mouth opening and tongue lolling out in a wolfish smile.

Carefully, the wolf dipped his head once more, keeping his large, dark eyes on me, and delicately lifted the leather trousers out of my hands with his front teeth. He straightened, then gave me a hard look and grunted once, which in my confusion sounded very much like a command of ‘Stay!’ I nodded dumbly, and the wolf cast me one more glance before turning and disappearing into the trees again.

I sucked in a long breath after he had gone, the blood smell dissipating behind him and the fresh air helping to clear my head. What was I doing? What was happening? Could that animal, that beast, really understand me? Was it still Jacob in there, somehow? Was it possible?

“Well, I’m not dead yet, now am I?” I muttered, squeezing my eyes shut. I felt lightheaded, like I could float away in the clouds overhead.

“Are you okay?!” Jacob’s voice suddenly barked, and I opened my eyes to find him striding quickly across the clearing toward me, human, whole, unharmed. He looked like he’d rushed right back here after his transformation; his hands were only just finishing with the tie at the waistline of his pants as he neared.

“Jacob,” I breathed, still dazed.

“Are you hurt?” he demanded, dropping to crouch beside me and reaching for my arm. “You looked like you were gonna pass out earlier.”

“No. No, I’m fine now,” I said, shaking my head. “It was just the smell of the blood…” My eyes strayed to his bare shoulder, taking in the patch of puckered, half-healed skin there, and just the faintest impression of what appeared to be teeth marks. “Your blood.”

“My… blood,” Jacob repeated, watching me carefully. He let himself sink to a seated position beside me, still holding onto my arm with one hand, and let out a long breath. “You looked like you were gonna be sick,” he said at last.

I nodded. I might well have been sick if I’d had to smell it much longer. The scent of blood affected all our people in a similar manner: deep down, we were still the same race as our Volturi cousins to the south – the same as the monster that had just attacked Jacob and me, I thought with a shiver. We were still technically, physically, capable of becoming just like them, if we so chose, but it wouldn’t be an easy transition. Like the sickness of a starving man who gorges himself upon finding food again for the first time, our bodies would revolt, the taste, smell, and very sight of blood too rich for our deprived systems to process.

“Is it because of… Does it have anything to do with the vampires?” Jacob asked, as if sensing the direction of my thoughts and picking his words carefully.

“Yes,” I said.

“So I should be glad you wanted to vomit instead of, say, salivating?”

I let out a surprised laugh, shaking my head and turning to look at him again. “I’m glad you’re okay,” I said, smiling up at him. And I was – more than glad even, but relieved, overjoyed to have him back. We could just gloss over the part where I’d been preparing to flee from him as well, fully expecting him to turn on me as soon as he’d finished with the vampire.

Jacob smiled in return, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me into his chest. Once there, he rested his forehead on top of my hair and let out a long, strained sigh. “Me too,” he murmured, sounding exhausted. I swallowed, not sure what to say to that, but before I could give it any more thought, Jacob tensed and began to roll to his feet, pulling me with him.

“Come on, we should get moving again,” he said as he set me on my feet.

“Do you think he’s still out there?” I asked, looking up into his dark eyes. He nodded, his face serious. I didn’t need to elaborate on who I meant.

“I managed to run him off, but I don’t think he’s gone for good. Especially not after getting a bite out of me,” he said, nodding down at the gradually disappearing patch on his shoulder. “Let’s just hope he doesn’t bring any friends back with him next time.”

I nodded and made my way toward our still-jumpy pack animals, needing movement to hide the shiver of fear that ran through me at that thought. “I don’t understand why he went after you, though,” I said, glancing back at Jacob. “I mean, I was right there. There was nothing to stop him from killing me.”

“I would have stopped it,” Jake growled. “Besides, I’m bigger and stronger than you, and strength is what they’re after.” He folded his arms, standing back to let me soothe Noble; the horse had had more than enough fright for one day. Jacob’s eyes swept over me, a mischievous smile quirking one side of his mouth. “Face it, Ness, compared to me, you’re just an appetizer. I’m the main course.”

I winced, feeling my skin crawl at his words. “Don’t joke about that,” I said, pulling myself up into the saddle. He was right, though: the Volturi – and my people, though we chose to abstain from their way of life – gained their speed, strength, and other heightened abilities by consuming the life force, the blood and flesh, of other creatures. Jacob, with his human intellect and werewolf strength, must have looked like a feast to our attacker. I shook my head, feeling sick for a whole different reason now.

Jacob just shrugged, his smile turning somewhat grim, and set off on the way out toward the road. I nudged Noble forward, watching Jacob’s back, and tried to convince myself that I was imagining the feeling of being watched.