~Chapter One~

Frost Bite

~Bella~

Crunching, tearing, howls, and blood.

Ever since that day I knew that I would never forget what that combination of words led to all those years ago. I'd never forget how it felt like to see my warm crimson blood leaving a trail behind as I was being dragged through the wet numbing snow. The howls were loud and haunting and I remember how many were surrounding me, each one chomping and growling as they fight their hunger off. I remember the searing pain in my torso when the first bite sunk into my thin cold skin all while I was struggling to escape and the arms made of stone that carried me to safety. Up to this day, the sensations and sounds play with my mind and...so did he.

My life was relatively normal and inconsequential before the events of that day. I lived in a small town in Alaska with my parents, Renee and Charlie. Apart from the fact that the majority in town knew pretty much everything there was to know about everyone, and that the population was no more than five thousand inhabitants, my parents and I were content. My father had just been promoted to chief of police and my mother worked in the smallest kindergarten I thought I had ever seen, while I was half way through middle school.

I had a couple friends but I was never popular, don't get me wrong I'm glad no one ever paid that much attention to plain old me and I never tried to change that. I was a short skinny girl with curly hair that went over my shoulders and big dark brown eyes, so like I said, I'm plain as day.

I had made it a habit to walk through the snow covered town after school and often cut through a path in the small forest that surrounded the police station where Charlie was waiting for me to go home or to dinner. He offered many times to just come pick me up but after he had been promoted, his responsibilities became a lot more time consuming and I didn't want to be another weight on his shoulders, even though he'd never call it that when it came to me.

I got used to our little routine and the only eventful thing that would happen on my way to the station would be me slipping on a patch of ice or tripping over a rock or unfortunately my own two feet, damn my clumsiness.

I mean it was, until a snow storm hit our little town and all the roads were blocked rendering Charlie and most of the police force immobile. Charlie and Renee had agreed on that day that I would wait for her pick me up after school but after yet another no show, I decided to venture through the harsh snow and wind and made my way to the station. Renee was a very flighty unfocused person when it came to responsibilities and often whenever it came to me. I loved her and I knew she loved me but god knows after all the crap she put me and Charlie through, she knew how to test our patience.

I finally made it to the usual path that leads me to the police station but it had been invaded by mountains of snow so I had no choice but to wander further into the woods where there seemed to be easy accessibility. The snow still reached a little over my knees but at least i was making progress. I could already see the station from across the clearing when I heard a loud snap from behind me, I slowly started to turn around even though I should have known better.

At first when I saw it, I mistook the over sized animal for a bear, I know it wasn't a bear obviously but you stand in my shoes and tell me you wouldn't mistake it for a freaking bear too! He stood to be at least six feet tall and walked slowly towards me, his eyes were pitch black just like his long stiff fur and it did little to mask his bony body. He was hungry, no driven mad by starvation and so were the rest of his pack as they made an appearance. The last moments of peace were short lived when he bared his fangs and saliva started spilling out of his mouth. I started to walk backwards and held my hands in front of me, hoping to persuade the wolves that they didn't want me.

Charlie had told me how the smaller animals had stopped walking through town like they used to and most likely decided to move to a warmer climate. That must've been what drew the wolves to me that day, they hadn't eaten in who knows how long and I was their savior. I thought I would be able to make it to the station if I just ran without tripping but thanks to the piles of snow I couldn't move as fast as I told myself. I grabbed a large branch that had fallen off a tree near by and got ready to swing when a smaller ash grey wolf jumped for me, I was proud of myself when I managed to smack the mutt away before making a run for it. I didn't want to give the pack a chance to react in the first few seconds, I could hear their howling and snarls as they attempted to get me with their teeth. Once again I hit another one with the end of my branch who had tried to go for my right foot. I dodged another one who tried to jump on me and it slid onto its back thanks to the frozen ice on the ground. I couldn't help but laugh him. Whose clumsy now?

I should have known when I said that, that I would be the next one to slip and fall. Luckily I had slipped right in front of the steps of the station, is what I thought and how wrong I was. I stood up and tried to control my breathing. For a second I couldn't hear anymore blood thirsty dogs behind me, of course this time I didn't even look behind me. I made my way up the steps but before I could get both of my legs on the first step I was knocked down by something heavy into the rough cold concrete. The next thing I knew I could feel something warm slipping around my stomach under my thick red jacket, Renee had given me for Christmas. It was a pain unlike any I had every experienced. I laid face down on the gravel before something started dragging me further away front the station, from Charlie. I wanted to scream but my head was throbbing and maybe it was from the shock but when I opened my mouth nothing came out, no screams or cries. Nothing. 'I must've hit it pretty hard on the impact' I thought.

I panicked and started squirming when I realized what was dragging me. I rolled over and saw that the same enormous black wolf had my ankle between his teeth and took me so easily, as if I weighed nothing in between his mouth. I figured out why I felt warm under my jacket too, he had sunk his teeth into my torso when he launched himself towards me. The blood wouldn't stop flowing out of me and went onto the snow, leaving bright red streaks behind us as we got further into the woods.

All I could think about at that point was how Charlie was sure to panic after seeing all the blood in front of the station that lead towards the woods I always went through. He would be heartbroken and Renee..she would be inconsolable or hysterical. Thinking about them like that made hot streaks of my own tears run down the sides of my eyes and then I lost consciousness. I don't know how long I was out for but when I opened my eyes again the sun had started to set, leaving the sky painted a soft yellow that mixed into a firery orange. It was beautiful and had it been a different circumstance I would have been in awe but the sounds of the rest of the pack's howls had started again, bringing my attention back to my captor who still had my now bloodied ankle in his jaw. I looked around and saw that we weren't in the woods anymore but in the middle of a snow covered lake surrounded by thousands of dead black trees.

It was like a scene from a movie, the all white landscape being sullied by my crimson blood as it left inconsistent marks behind us, my red jacket all ripped and tattered. And the black wolf who was now staring right into my eyes before howling loudly enough for the whole town to hear, I thought. Shortly after the rest of the pack had assembled around us they were all pacing back and forth as they await their long anticipated meal. It made me sick to my stomach imagining myself being eaten alive by these animals. Would I be eaten whole? Or would they leave bits and peaces behind enough for my parents to distinguish me? At least they'd know I didn't run away or was kidnapped, by a person I mean. 'God I hope they end this quickly' I had already lost so much blood it was making me come in and out of consciousness. It looked like when a camera takes multiple snap shots at once and the subject keeps changing positions at a fast rate, it was scary how inconsistent my vision and memory was at this point.

When I was able to focus once again I could see one other large wolf to my right just standing there staring at me, he didn't pace or growl like the others. I thought it was very strange, he didn't even look interested in the events that unfolded before him. I could feel the paws and teeth of other wolves sinking into my legs and arms but none hurt as badly as the bite on my torso given to me by the terrifying black wolf. They were immediately stopped by a hauntingly loud snarl.

As if he could hear what I was thinking, he appeared at my feet, burning his gaze into my unfocused glassy eyes. I didn't want to be afraid or at least show him that I was so I tried my best to hold back my tears. I was trembling so badly my body was convulsing and my hands and legs felt like they were being stabbed by hundreds of glass shards.

Once again I had realized I zoned out when the black wolf was now on top of me, his hind legs were applying an undeniably excruciating pain on my abdomen where he had bitten me. I could hear myself trying to stifle a scream that could have ripped someone's ear off and I hoped it would at least do some harm to the bastard that was surely enjoying causing me this pain. After my kicking and screaming had ended due to exhaustion and blood loss, the wolf was finally ready to end my suffering. I closed my eyes and I could feel all the tears I tried so hard to conceal roll down my face, I tried to not focus on the noises the wolves around me by thinking one last time about my parents and I remember saying 'I'm sorry dad..I love you mom' before feeling the black wolf's hot disgusting breath against my neck.

I waited for it to happen but it was taking too much time and it was truly a lot more painful to wait for my demise than that of any wounds my freezing body had. I couldn't help but open my eyes and saw his jaw begin to open and barked at me so loudly I flinched and all the other wolves seemed to be cheering him on with their own barks. He didn't get a chance to fulfill his needs however, when suddenly something grabbed him forcefully and he was launched to the other side of the lake and landed hard into the ice. The wolves went crazy and started running towards whatever it was frantically.

I couldn't keep up with any of them, they were moving too fast and there were so many of them I didn't know where to even begin. I knew something was wrong when their growls sounded a lot more threatening, if that were even possible. I forced myself to focus again and looked around until my eyes landed on the lethargic wolf I had seen earlier to my right. He was closer now and I suspected he would try to finish the job while the rest of the pack were preoccupied but instead he laid down next to me and just looked into my eyes. 'What is it with these wolves and looking into my eyes?' I remember thinking, it was alarming how much attention they were paying me instead of eating me. Maybe he was trying to warm me up with his this fur and felt remorse for what his buddies did to me? At this point I had so many incoherent thoughts it was maddening.

I am alerted by a loud pained whine the the left of me and that's when the wolves finally stopped their overlapping frenzy. My vision allowed me to see what had interrupted my death sentence and I could see it wasn't a 'what'. It was a 'who'. I never considered a man as 'beautiful' but that was the one word I thought about when I saw him. This young beautiful man was fighting off the beasts who attacked me and by fighting I literally mean that he was punching, kicking, and throwing the wolves. It was incredible and inhuman, I mean it had to be. It should be physically impossible for him to just casually pick up and throw a six foot tall wolf across the lake but strangely enough I wasn't scared of him. He stopped the black wolf from running back towards me by grabbing his hind legs and slamming him against the ice. Once again my vision got blurry but I would never forget this breathtaking being.

That man looked no older than twenty years old, his skin was almost as white as the snow surrounding us, and his hair was a curly honey blonde mess but it suited him. I couldn't see his eyes since he was being pushed farther away by the wolves but I was sure they were just as beautiful as he was. 'God, you're about to die and all you can think about is how hot this guy is?' I couldn't help but berate myself for having such thoughts in a situation like this so I looked away to see the wolf next to me had stood up and was growling at a young woman who was standing in front of him. She was just as beautiful as the man, she had a pixie haircut and black hair, she was pretty short for her age, but none of that mattered when I saw her eyes. The girl's eyes were a breathtaking gold but how was that possible?

I swore I could have heard her say something to the wolf that was by my side but she spoke too quickly for me to understand. Then without warning the wolf charged for her but she swiftly dodged his attack by jumping over him and was by my side in an instant.

"Don't worry, Bella. You're going to be okay, we'll get you out of here." she said in her smooth musical voice before taking off towards the wolf. Wait how did she know my name?

The wolf was trying to take advantage while she was distracted by me and lunged for her. The little pixie moved so quickly and perfectly it looked like a dance. The young woman collided with the wolf in mid air and they both stumbled into the hard frozen lake. And then that was were everything happened way to quickly for me to realize what was happening.

While the woman was fighting off the wolf, the pack leader had made his way over to me at a slow pace. He must've been injured by my beautiful savior. I tried to sit up but the pain that was radiating in my abdomen was too much. I screamed out in pain and curled into myself and wrapped my arms around my stomach trying to will the pain away but all I can do is see all the blood created a little puddle around me.

Then the next thing I knew the wolf sunk his teeth into my leg and now the pain that I had felt in my torso was radiating through my leg, I couldn't help but scream even louder. Before I got the chance to control myself, the young man and woman were both tearing the wolf off my leg, the little woman was grabbing the wolf's jaws and forcing him to loosen his grip on my leg and after he does, the young man punched the wolf so hard the impact cracked the ice underneath us. The ice started dislodging and I knew what would happen next.

The part of the ice I was on held together but separated me from the others. The young man looked shocked and pained as well and tried to get to me and accidenlty allowed me to see his eyes. They were gold just like the woman's, that's interesting. The only one who remained by my side was the brown wolf who had fought with the young woman and he was trying to stand up but that only caused the ice to break even more. He looked scared and hell, I was terrified too. I tried to call him down by placing my hand on his back but that didn't do him any good and he jolted. The wolf looked at me before he slipped off and into the water, but not before he bit me on the shoulder. I knew he bit me to hold onto something and it was gentler than when the alpha bit me. I felt bad for him but it hurt like hell and I tried to push him off me but I was too weak. Before I slipped completely into the piercing cold water I heard the young woman yelling.

"Jasper!!"

And then I went under and was whisked away by the current.

The next thing I knew, I was being held by a pair of strong arms and I could hear the sirens from afar. 'My dad must've found me' I thought and I couldn't stop the horrible sobs that escaped my frozen and injured body. I could feel the arms around me tighten their hold and brought me closer to this person's chest, they weren't warm or soft but they calmed me and I couldn't control myself as I fell unconscious.

When I woke up, for some reason I thought it had all been in my head, that young man and woman, and those wolves had been a dream. Of course I was proven wrong when I finally looked around the room- the hospital room, I was in. I could hear the machines around me beeping, I had an oxygen mask on and my left arm was hooked on an IV. I could feel hot compresses on my legs and there had to be at least three blankets on me.

My observation was interrupted by a quiet raspy voice. "Bella?"

I turn to where the voice came from and was immediately overcome by relief. Charlie was sitting in a chair that was to my right, he looked disheveled and exhausted, it was obvious he hadn't moved from that spot since I had been brought to this room.

"Dad? What happened?" I hardly recognized my voice, it was just as raspy as Charlie's, if not more.

I remembered what happened but either I was too loaded up with pain medication or I was worse than I felt because I didn't have any idea what I was doing in the hospital. I was still convinced my little accident in the woods had been a dream.

"Well kiddo..I..you were attacked." Charlie tried his best to explain what happened to me or more like what he thought happened.

"Oh..right."

"You were attacked by an animal, Bells." It sounded more like a question than a statement.

"But you found me and brought me here right?"

For a minute Charlie looked confused like he didn't know what I was talking about. Was I delusional? Charlie scooted in his seat so he could be closer to me and held my hand that was wrapped in bandages from my knuckles down to my elbow.

"No sweetie. You were found you just outside of the hospital on a bench. Someone had called and said that they found a girl who was attacked by an animal badly injured and when the emergency team went out expecting you to be in a car or ambulance, they found you out by the entrance and unconscious." he explained.

I was even more confused by everything. So that man and woman were real, they had saved me and brought me to the hospital but why didn't they stay for me to thank them? Did they want nothing to do with me after or get blamed for what had happened?

"Where's mom?" I asked him trying to change the subject and not think about them or those damn wolves.

"Uh, your mom went home to rest. She'll be here tomorrow."

I knew what that meant, she must've been too overwhelmed when they called her to the hospital. I bet she lost it completely and started yelling at Charlie to do something or where he was to allow something like this to happen. Even though it was partially her fault for forgetting about me at school. I'd have to deal with her hysterics tomorrow, thankfully because right now I have no clue what to do or say to comfort anyone.

"We'll have to talk about what happened, Bella." Charlie said gently trying not to cause me anymore discomfort.

"Can we talk about it later, sorry I'm just really tired dad." I said hoping he wouldn't get upset.

"Of course. I'm just glad you're safe." Charlie never was one to comfort or console someone, he found it awkward just like me. But it meant a lot whenever he did try.

"Thanks dad." I added and I truly was thankful that he was finally by my side and that I was alive.

Charlie stood up to hug me as gently as he could and as much as I hated it, I silently cried my eyes out on his shoulder until I was sound asleep. That night I dreamt of a snow covered world, wild beasts, and the two beautiful people who saved my life.

~Present Day~

It's been three years since I had been attacked by the wolves in Alaska. Since then things went to hell after the first year leading to my recovery. I was questioned by the police and my dad was by my side for it. I gave them the details and what unfolded but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to tell them about those two, they'd either think I was crazy or making it up. Besides I wanted to keep it to myself, it was something between the three of us. If there wasnt any reason to hide then they would have been here and the fact that they weren't, told me a lot.

I had been gravely injured by those wolves, that damn wolf more like it. I had been bitten in several parts of my body but none left a scar too obvious and eventually they disappeared to nothing, unfortunately there were two that had left lasting impressions on me. The one on my abdomen was the worst one of the scars, it ran from the right side of my rib cage to my belly button and it reminded me of a crescent moon, how ironic is that? It was hideous even though my mom tried to convince me otherwise. The other scar was on my ankle, thank god, it looked smaller but I knew better than anyone how painful it was to get it. The bite mark on my shoulder healed nicely and quickly, to that I gave a little thanks to that brown wolf for taking it easy on me. I was put to bed rest for a couple weeks until the wound in my abdomen healed completely.

My doctor had told me I suffered from hypothermia, yeah no kidding. So I was to be kept the warm indoors and constantly drinking fluids. Even after I recovered I still couldn't stand the cold for too long and more times than I'd like to admit, I'd start having difficulty breathing and would shiver like crazy. That was the least of my worries however. The nightmares started the night I got released from the hospital.

Renee and Charlie would always be right by my side whenever the screaming and crying started in the middle of the night. I would apologize to them every morning, they always said it was okay and that all that mattered was that I was safe and home. But I knew it was taking a toll on them, Renee especially. She felt guilty for what had happened to me but she never apologized for it, I didn't need her to since it wasn't her fault. Then it was hard to get more than five hours of sleep and at times I couldn't control my paranoid behavior in school or anywhere for that matter.

And this is where things went to hell, as I previously said. It started in school, the kids had started making fun of my scars or the fact that I never spoke to them must've rubbed them the wrong way. They liked taking advantage of my reactions to loud noises and sometimes they'd 'cry wolf', literally. Until one day I had a really bad panic attack causing me to hyperventilate after some boy had brought a wolf mask to school and decided to jump me from behind. It didn't end well for me or for him, since he went home with a broken nose that day. My teachers had talked to Charlie and Renee about my 'weird' behavior and suggested that I be disciplined and that did not sit well with my parents.

This eventually caused a lot of turmoil in Renee and Charlie's relationship and as much as they deny it, I know it was because of me. They fought a lot and many times I had to comfort Renee or talk to Charlie. A year after I had made a full recovery, physically. Renee and Charlie sat me down and told me that they were getting a divorce.

Renee was heartbroken when I told her that I wanted to stay with my dad and that I would visit her on the holidays but it was for the best, she knew that. It was too hard for her to live with the guilt that her daughter was broken and traumatized. She decided to move to Pheonix, Arizona where her new job was waiting for her.

Another year later, Charlie decided to apply for another job in a small city called Forks, in Washington and was almost immediately hired for chief of police there. That was when we moved out of our little house in Alaska and moved to not so sunny Forks. I only hoped that things would just go back to normal by moving to a new place and get a chance to start over. However, even after all this time. I still couldn't stop thinking about that young man who saved me and almost just as much as when I had those horrible nightmares. I'd dream about him.

A/N

Next chapter we get to see into Alice and Jasper's point of view!

So..here's chapter one of Into My Arms! This story came to me about two nights ago in a dream and I haven't stopped thinking about it since. I'm really excited to be starting a new story(even though I haven't even come close to finishing it) I wanted to write a story with a little more romance and mystery involved and this seemed like the perfect story for that! Please let me know what you think!