Chapter 6: Phasing

It was a Saturday morning, and I was at the kitchen island having breakfast. Jacob was still asleep after finishing half a baking tray of brownies in one night. I snarfed down my cereal, because I was too eager. I had so many questions in my mind. Most of all, I wanted to see Jacob phase into a wolf. Maybe it would give me a better idea of what to expect. Jacob had also said something about what color fur I might have. Aren't wolves just white, grey, or black. Well we were talking about ware wolves, so maybe they had more color choices.

After I shoved the last spoonful of cereal in my mouth, I raced up the stairs. Kayla, as usual, was still snoring away, and Addison was doing groceries. As soon as I reached Jake's room, I swung his door open. Jacob's room was clustered with his shoes and clothes. He himself was sleeping soundly. His massive, tall body, with his muscles coiling even in his sleep looked menacing. I picked up a pillow and flung it at him. He didn't even flinch. I then did the stupidest thing ever. I raised my hand and it slapped Jake on the back as hard as I could. Wow, Jake's back was hard and hot as fire. It felt like I slapped concrete. I brought my hand up to examine it, and I saw my palm had turned red and slightly swollen. Jacob finally turned over.

"Dude can you stop rubbing my back, it feels weird" Jacob complained with his eyes still closed.

"Jake you bruised me" I said quietly.

"What?" Jake sat up and looked at my hand.

"Did you try to hit me?" Jake asked with a smirk.

I nodded. "Yes"

"That's why. Noah, I am not hard as a vampire, or soft as a human. My skin is soft but underneath it I'm almost like concrete. Slapping or hitting me is a bad idea." Jake explained.

"Did you really not feel anything?" I asked unbelievably.

"No, if you hadn't gone so quiet, I would have thought you were just rubbing, or tickling my back"

"Anyways, I had a question"

"Shoot" Jake encouraged.

"Well, I want to know how phasing works, or how it feels. I want to know everything about ware wolves and vampires." The words rushed out if my mouth.

"Well sit down then" Jake motioned with his hand. I plopped down on his bouncy bed.

"Phasing is the result of some very overpowering emotion. It can be anger, sadness, confusion... lust." Jacob smiled at the last word.

"So how exactly does phasing feel?" I asked.

"When we phase, we erupt. We literally rip out of our own clothes, and grow ten times our size. Ware wolves look much more different from normal wolves. They are bigger and taller. The shortest ware wolf is about six feet tall on all four legs. Alpha wolves, or the pack leaders, are the biggest. They weigh almost seven tons, and are about 10 feet tall."

Jake's hand reached up in the air to show how tall he meant. Like a small child, my eyes went round with amazement. Then, another question rang in my mind.

"How does a ware wolf becomes an alpha?"

Jake smiled and said "Alpha's are born into their royal blood line. Ware wolves stay immortal as long as they keep phasing. When they stop, they grow old and die. Then the alpha's blood line gets passed on to next of kin. The blood line for any ware wolf gets activated from other mythical creatures. The last ten generations before us weren't faced with other creatures, so the blood line never got activated. Still the ware wolf gene got passed, and now it has been triggered inside of us."

"So are you born into the alpha bloodline?"

Jacob tilted his head and smiled shyly.

"Yes"

"So you're the alpha?!" I half screamed.

"No" Jacob laughed.

"But you said-"

"I said that alphas are born into the bloodline, but the alpha can step down and give the job to someone else. I stepped down because I don't feel like alpha material, so I gave the job to Sam Uley."

"Wait, Sam? Wasn't he one of our friends back at the reservation?"

"Yeah, when Sam first turned he thought he was going crazy. He disappeared for an entire month, and his ex, who is now my girlfriend, Leah, went crazy and had gathered a search party for him. When he returned things slowly went back to normal. Then our last alpha, my great grandfather, who died four years ago from old age, first realized what Sam had become. Ware wolves are naturally able to keep warm, so our skin is blazing hot. When Sam went to shake my great grandfather's hand, the old man almost had a stroke from the heat. He then explained to Sam and then slowly other boys in our reservation started to phase. Sam would always sense it when another member was to join the pack."

"How many members are there in the pack?"

"Actually, I can't give you the pack numbers yet. You can know when Sam can feel you starting to phase."

I nodded.

"But how many of our know friends have phased from the reservation?"

"Well, first it was Sam, then it was my best friend Paul Lahote. Unlike most of us, Paul is quite happy with becoming a ware wolf. Then we had Embry Call, Quil Ateara, and Jared Cameron. After that Leah too joined the pack."

Jake stopped speaking and a worried expression crossed his face. I encouraged him to continue.

"There aren't supposed to be any female ware wolves. Leah is the first and only female ware wolf. Other females get the gene, but it never gets triggered. The gene just gets passed on through their bloodline. For some reason Leah's gene got triggered."

I stayed quiet, then I asked another question.

"How does Leah feel about this?"

"Ware wolves that are in the same pack can read each other's mind, as long as we are in our wolf form. Leah always loathes herself for what she has become. She sometimes wonders weather she is actually a woman or not."

My mind then filled with sympathy for Leah.

"It must be awful, to question your entire existence. Have your every thought be heard."

"Everyone felt bad for Leah at first, but then she started to make it everyone's problem."

Jake paused, which meant he was going to explain something very important about ware wolves.

"We ware wolves don't choose our mates, we do something called imprinting. When we see our destined mate, we imprint on them. We fall madly in love with them. Sam used to date Leah, but after he turned he imprinted on Leah's cousin, Emily. This broke Leah's heart, and Sam felt awful for hurting Leah. Now when I first saw Leah, I hated her, but three days after her being in the pack, I imprinted on her. Now, I can't find any reason why she may have annoyed me in the first place. I am totally smitten by her, and she is too in love with me. That's how imprinting works, both parties fall in love with each other. Leah is now doing better with me, but it gets weird sometimes, with Sam being Leah's ex boyfriend."

"So, will I imprint on someone too?"

"Yes, you can imprint on anyone. A human, ware wolf... a vampire. Sometimes though, imprinting can be embarrassing too. Like Paul, he actually imprinted on a baby." Jake said smiling.

I stopped smiling, and my head filled with questions and worry.

"He... imprinted... on a baby?!"

"Yes, but it's different. When we imprint we adjust to how our mate is. Right now Paul is nothing more than a brother to her. When she grows a bit older, he'll be like a friend, or a protector. Then when she reaches full maturity, he will become her mate. This ensures that she has a few decades to fall in love with him. She can back out any time, but the imprinting compulsion is from both sides, so she is destined to be with him."

I sighed with relief. Then I started to laugh.

"Great, all this ware wolf talk must have made you go crazy Noah"

"No, it's just that, what if I fall in love with a... a baby!" I started to laugh again.

"That's not very important now, because we need to figure out how to deal with Katie."

"What do you say we do?"

"I say, that me and my pack should go and kill her. This way she'll be off your back."

My face went pale.

"No! Pleas no! Katie has been nothing but nice to me."

"Noah, she is a vampire, she is selfish, and blood thirsty. Al she is going to want is your blood."

My hands clenched into fists, and I swore I would do anything to protect her.