THE TWO THINGS AT THE VERY TOP OF MY THINGS-I-NEVER-WANT-TO-DO LIST

Sam started moving the others into formation while i was still on the ground. Embry and Quil were at mysides, waiting for me to recover and take the point.

　　I could feel the drive, the need, to get on my feet and lead them. The compulsion grew, and I fought ituselessly, cringing on the ground where I was.

　　Embry whined quietly in my ear. He didn't want to think the words, afraid that he would bring me toSam's attention again. I felt his wordless plea for me to get up, for me to get this over with and be donewith it.

　　There was fear in the pack, not so much for self but for the whole. We couldn't imagine that we wouldall make it out alive tonight. Which brothers would we lose? Which minds would leave us forever? Whichgrieving families would we be consoling in the morning?

　　My mind began to work with theirs, to think in unison, as we dealt with these fears. Automatically, Ipushed up from the ground and shook out my coat.

　　Embry and Quil huffed in relief. Quil touched his nose to my side once.

　　Their minds were filled with our challenge, our assignment. We remembered together the nights we'dwatched the Cullens practicing for the fight with the newborns. Emmett Cullen was strongest, but Jasperwould be the bigger problem. He moved like a lightning strike—power and speed and death rolled intoone. How many centuries' experience did he have? Enough that all the other Cullens looked to him forguidance.

　　/'// take point, if you want flank, Quil offered. There was more excitement in his mind than most of theothers. When Quil had watched Jasper's instruction those nights, he'd been dying to test his skill againstthe vampire's. For him, this would be a contest. Even knowing it was his life on the line, he saw it thatway. Paul was like that, too, and the kids who had never been in battle, Collin and Brady. Seth probablywould've been the same—if the opponents were not his friends.

　　Jake?Quil nudged me. How do you want to roll?

　　I just shook my head, t couldn't concentrate—the compulsion to follow orders felt like puppet stringshooked intoall of my muscles. One foot forward, now another.

　　Seth was dragging behind Collin and Brady—Leah had assumed point there. She ignored Seth whileplanning with the others, and I could see that she'd rather leave him out of the fight.There was a maternaledge to her feelings for her younger brother. She wished Sam would send him home. Seth didn't registerLeah's doubts. He was adjusting to the puppet strings, too.

　　Maybe if you stopped resisting...,Embry whispered.

　　Just focus on our part. The big ones. We can take them down. We own them!Quil was working himselfup—like a pep talk before a big game.

　　I could see how easy it would be—to think about nothing more than my part. It wasn't hard to imagingattacking Jasper and Emmett. We'd been close to that before. I'd thought of them as enemies for a verylong time. I could do that now again.

　　I just had to forget that they were protecting the same thing I would protect. I had to forget the reasonwhy I might want them to win....

　　Jake,Embry warned. Keep your head in the game.

　　My feet moved sluggishly, pulling against the drag of the strings.

　　There's no point fighting it,Embry whispered again.

　　He was right. I would end up doing what Sam wanted, if he was willing to push it. And he was.

　　Obviously.

　　There was a good reason for the Alpha's authority. Even a pack as strong as ours wasn't much of aforce without a leader. We had to move together, to think together, in order to be effective. And thatrequired the body to have a head.

　　So what if Sam was wrong now? There was nothing anyone could do. No one could dispute hisdecision.

　　Except.

　　And there it was—a thought I'd never, never wanted to have. But now, with my legs all tied up in strings,I recognized the exception with relief—more than relief, with a fierce joy.

　　No one could dispute the Alpha's decision—except for me.

　　I hadn't earned anything. But there were things that had been born in me, things that I'd left unclaimed.

　　I'd never wanted to lead the pack. I didn't want to do it now. I didn't want the responsibility for all ourfates resting on my shoulders. Sam was better at that than I would ever be.

　　But he was wrong tonight.

　　And I had not been born to kneel to him.

　　The bonds fell off my body the second that I embraced my birthright.

　　I could feel it gathering in me, both a freedomand also a strange, hollow power.Hollow because anAlpha's power came from his pack, and I had no pack. For a second, loneliness overwhelmed me.

　　I had no pack now.

　　But I was straight and strong as I walked to where Sam stood, planning with Paul and Jared. He turnedat the sound of my advance, and his black eyes narrowed.

　　A/o, I told him again.

　　He heard it right away, heard the choice that I'd made in the sound of the Alpha voice in my thoughts.

　　He jumped back a half step with a shocked yelp.

　　Jacob? What have you done?

　　I won't follow you, Sam. Not for something so wrong.

　　He stared at me, stunned. You would... you would choose your enemies over your family?

　　They aren't—I shook my head, clearing it— they aren't our enemies. They never have been. Until Ireally thought about destroying them, thought it through, I didn't see that.

　　This isn't about them,he snarled at me. This is about Bella. She has never been the one for you, shehas never chosen you, but you continue to destroy your life for her!

　　They were hard words, but true words. I sucked in a big gulp of air, breathing them in.

　　Maybe you're right. But you're going to destroy the pack over her, Sam. No matter how many of themsurvive tonight, they will always have murder on their hands.

　　We have to protect our families!

　　I know what you've decided, Sam. But you don't decide for me, not anymore.

　　Jacob— you can't turn your back on the tribe.

　　I heard the double echo of his Alpha command, but it was weightless this time. It no longer applied tome. He clenched his jaw, trying to force me to respond to his words.

　　I stared into his furious eyes. Ephraim Black's son was not born to follow Levi Uley's.

　　Is this it, then, JacobBlack? His hackles rose and his muzzle pulled back from his teeth. Paul and Jaredsnarled and bristled at his sides. Even if you can defeat me, the pack will never follow you!

　　Now /jerked back, a surprised whine escaping my throat.

　　Defeat you? I'm not going to fight you, Sam.

　　Then what's your plan? I'm not stepping aside so that you can protect the vampire spawn at the tribe'sexpense.

　　I'm not telling you to step aside.

　　If you order them to follow you—/'// never take anyone's will away from him.

　　His tail whipped back and forth as he recoiled from the judgment in my words. Then he took a stepforward so that we were toe to toe, his exposed teeth inches from mine. I hadn't noticed till this momentthat I'd grown taller than him.

　　There cannot be more than one Alpha. The pack has chosen me. Will you rip us apart tonight? Will youturn on yourbrothers? Or will you end this insanity and join us again?Every word was layered with command, but itcouldn't touch me. Alpha blood ran undiluted in my veins.

　　Icould see why there was never more than one Alpha male in a pack. My body was responding to thechallenge. I could feel the instinct to defend my claim rising in me. The primitive core of my wolf-selftensed for the battle of supremacy.

　　I focusedall my energy to control that reaction. I would not fall into a pointless, destructive fight withSam. He was my brother still, even though I was rejecting him.

　　There is only one Alpha for this pack. I'm not contesting that I'm just choosing to go my own way.

　　Do you belong to acoven now, Jacob?

　　I flinched.

　　/ don't know, Sam. But I do know this—He shrunk back as he felt the weight of the Alpha in my tone. It affected him more than his touched me.

　　Because I had been born to lead him.

　　/ will stand between you and the Cullens. I won't just watch while the pack kills innocent—it washard to apply that word to vampires, but it was true— people. The pack is better than that. Leadthem in the right direction, Sam.

　　I turned my back on him, and a chorus of howls tore into the air around me.

　　Digging my nails into the earth, I raced away from the uproar I'd caused. I didn't have much time. Atleast Leah was the only one with a prayer of outrunning me, and I had a head start.

　　The howling faded with the distance, and I took comfort as the sound continued to rip apart the quietnight. They weren't after me yet.

　　I had to warn the Cullens before the pack could get it together and stop me. If the Cullens wereprepared,it might give Sam a reason to rethink this before it was too late. I sprinted toward the whitehouse Istill hated, leaving my home behindme. Home didn't belong to me anymore. I'd turned my backon it.

　　Today had begun like any other day. Made it home from patrol with the rainy sunrise, breakfast withBilly and Rachel, bad TV, bickering withPaul... How did it change so completely, turn all surreal? Howdid everything get messed up and twisted so that I was here now, all alone, an unwilling Alpha, cut offfrom my brothers, choosing vampires over them?

　　The sound I'd been fearing interrupted my dazed thoughts—it was the soft impact of big paws againstthe ground, chasing after me. I threw myself forward, rocketing through the black forest. I just had to getclose enough so that Edward could hear the warning in my head. Leah wouldn't be able to stop mealone.

　　And then I caught the mood of the thoughts behind me. Not anger, but enthusiasm. Not chasing... butfollowing.

　　My stride broke. I staggered two steps before it evened out again.

　　Wait up. My legs aren't as long as yours.

　　SETH! What do you think you're DOING? GO HOME!

　　He didn't answer, but I could feel his excitement as he kept right on after me. I could see through hiseyes as hecould see through mine. The night scene was bleak for me—fullof despair. For him, it was hopeful.

　　I hadn't realized I was slowing down, but suddenly he was on my flank, running in position beside me.

　　/ am not joking, Seth! This is no place for you. Get out of here.

　　The gangly tan wolf snorted. I've got your back, Jacob. I think you're right. And I'm not going tostand behind Sam when—Oh yes you are the hell going to stand behind Sam! Get your furry butt back to La Push and do whatSam tells you to do.

　　No.

　　Go, Seth!

　　Is that anorder. Jacob?

　　His question brought me up short. I skidded to a halt, my nails gouging furrows in the mud.

　　I'm not ordering anyone to do anything. I'm just telling you what you already know.

　　He plopped down on his haunches beside me. /'// tell you what I know —I know that it's awful quiet.

　　Haven't you noticed?

　　I blinked. My tail swished nervously as I realized what he was thinking underneath the words. It wasn'tquiet in one sense. Howls still filled the air, far away in the west.

　　They haven't phased back,Seth said.

　　I knew that. The pack would be on red alert now. They would be using the mind link to see all sidesclearly. But I couldn't hear what they were thinking. I could only hear Seth. No one else.

　　Looks to me like separate packs aren't linked. Huh. Guess there was no reason for our fathers to knowthat before. 'Cause there was no reason for separate packs before. Never enough wolves for two. Wow.

　　It'sreally quiet. Sort of eerie. But also kinda nice, don't you think? I bet it was easier, like this, forEphraim and Quil and Levi. Not such a babble with just three. Or just two.

　　Shut up, Seth.

　　Yes, sir.

　　Stop that! There are not two packs. There is THE pack, and then there is me. That's all. So you can gohome now.

　　If there aren't two packs, then why can we hear each other and not the rest? I think that when youturned your back on Sam, that was a pretty significant move. A change. And when I followed you away,I think that was significant, too.

　　You've got a point,I conceded. But what can change can change right back.

　　He got up and started trotting toward the east. No time to argue about it now. We should be movingright along before Sam...

　　He was right about that part. There was no time for this argument. Ifell into a run again, not pushingmyself quite as hard. Seth stayed on my heels, holding the Second's traditional place on my right flank.

　　/ can ru............