Jacob's paws dug lightly into the mud as he moved quickly across the dirt floor. The air was filled with the scent of pine and damp leaves, but none of these were the scents he was looking for. It was the pungent, sweet scent of Victoria. And the metallic, blood-scented presence of the newborn vampires with her. They had to find them.
He and his pack had been on the trail for hours. Victoria and her army of vampires moved cautiously. Usually newborns were careless enough to leave tracks, but Victoria was obviously training them. That made her job all the more difficult.
Paul rushed past Jacob and spoke through their mind-link. "There is nothing new here. The scent is still as weak as before. How far ahead do you think they are?"
Jacob inhaled the air again. The scent was stale, it had to be at least a few days old. But it was still detectable. "They're not far. But they're hiding. Victoria usually likes to move around, but this time she seems to have settled in one place."
Leah rushed over and interrupted. "That's bad. If she's really settled down, it means they're preparing for war."
Jacob didn't want to think about it, but Leah was right. Victoria wasn't building a fledgling army just to kill them. She was planning. Not since the Cullens and the wolves had moved together had Victoria targeted them directly. But that silence was a harbinger of the storm to come.
"Jake, over here." Quil's voice echoed. Jacob moved quickly to his side. Quil pointed to an area where a deep gouge had been made in the earth. The pine branches were broken, the leaves scattered, and there were deep marks in the ground. Someone had fallen - no, thrown - here.
"There must have been a struggle." While Embry carefully examined the tracks, Jacob tried to distinguish the smells that came to his nose. There was no smell of blood, but there was a sense of desperation and panic that permeated the ground.
Leah sniffed the ground a little further ahead and gritted her teeth. "There's something else here..."
Jacob went over and realized what Leah meant. Someone's anxious energy, the smell of desperation after loss... "One of the newborns tried to escape."
Paul grunted. "Probably someone who didn't want to be in Victoria's army. But he couldn't escape."
Jacob looked in the direction of the broken branches. The smell had become stronger. "They went north from here. That's probably where Victoria is hiding."
The rest of the herd turned in the direction Jacob had pointed. Following these tracks might lead them to Victoria's hiding place. But it could also lead them into a big trap.
Jacob thought for a while. His eyes narrowed, his ears fully focused on his surroundings. "We'll keep doing this, but we'll be careful. If they spot us, we'll lose them and retreat. Our priority is to find them."
Everyone nodded and the group started running again. The air was cool, the moonlight barely penetrating the clouds. Jacob felt every muscle in his body move. As Alpha, his responsibility was great, but now there was something else...
Leah moved closer to Jacob, matching his pace. They ran together for a while without talking. Then Leah addressed him directly.
"What about Bella?"
Jacob frowned but didn't slow down. "What about her?"
Leah sighed. "Don't you see what she still does to you? You're here, fighting for her. But she's still with Edward."
Jacob tried to control his anger. "This war is not about Bella."
Leah replied with a contemptuous snort. "Really, Jacob? What was Victoria's real reason for trying to kill Bella? Was it her hatred for the Cullens or her obsession with taking Bella away from Edward?"
Jacob suddenly sped up, causing Leah to fall a little behind. This conversation was unnecessary. Leah was doing nothing but scratching her wounds. But her words echoed in Jacob's head.
When Leah approached him again, she added sarcastically, "You think I hate people, don't you? But at least I can tell when someone cares about me, Jacob."
Jacob looked at Leah but said nothing. Instead, he concentrated on a new scent that came to his nose. It was faint but familiar. Victoria...
Jacob continued to move forward, keeping his breathing under control. The scent in the air began to intensify. Victoria's pungent, sweet scent was now clearly recognizable. But that wasn't the only thing that caught Jacob's attention - the scent of the newborn vampires with her was also in the air. And there were more of them than he thought.
He and his pack traveled a little farther and came to an area where the forest was denser. Here the trees were denser and the ground softer and more humid. The wild and uncontrolled movements of the newborns had broken some trees, leaving leaves and holes in the ground.
Jacob signaled with his eyes and stopped his flock. They couldn't come any closer. If they went too far, Victoria and her army might discover them. Besides, vampires had an extremely sensitive sense of smell. The slightest mistake could give them away.
Embry mentally called to Jacob. "I don't think we should come any closer. Even from here I can sense that there are too many of them."
Leah agreed. "This is crazy Jacob, there are too many vampires here. The newborns may be inexperienced, but if there are too many of them, we'll be in trouble if they notice us."
Paul grunted impatiently. "But we should at least take a look. It would be ridiculous to go back without confirming that Victoria is here."
Jacob paused for a moment. Paul was right, but the risk was great. Even a momentary error could have disastrous consequences.
Just then the wind shifted. Jacob's hair stood on end. He quickly sniffed the air. He was not wrong... Victoria was here!
Her scent was different from the others, more intense, more dangerous. But there were at least fifteen, maybe twenty newborn vampires with her. This could only be the beginning of the battle. If Victoria had gathered so many, who knew if there were more out there?
Through the mental link, Jacob gave a clear order to his pack. "We're pulling back. We can't get too close. If they spot us, we have no chance to escape."
Paul raised his head in protest, but Embry and Quil gave him a stern look. Leah ruffled her feathers nervously. "A wise decision. Now we have to go back and tell Billy and the pack everything."
Jacob scanned the area one last time. Although he could not see the area where the vampires were, it was clear that it was being used as a camp. The newborns were taking shelter here, testing their strength, preparing for battle. Victoria's presence here changed everything. This could no longer be just a battle, but a massacre.
Noticing that the wind had shifted again, she wasted no time in giving the signal. His herd began to retreat quickly. Taking each step carefully, they made their way deeper into the forest, out of sight of the vampires. In a few minutes, they were far enough away from the newborns' territory.
Jacob was relieved. Their plan had worked. The vampires hadn't noticed them. Now all they had to do was go back to the pack and tell them everything.
★★★
The rest of the herd was waiting for them near the big rock. When Jacob and his team arrived, Billy and Sam were also there. Sam frowned when he saw the look on Jacob's face.
"What did you find?" he asked, his voice as authoritative as ever.
Jacob took a deep breath, changed back into his human form and crouched down. One by one, the others transformed and gathered around him.
"We found Victoria."
The words startled everyone around him. Sam and Billy looked at Jacob for a moment in silence. The other wolves looked at each other with confused and angry expressions.
"Where is he?" Billy asked, his voice calm but serious.
Jacob turned his head to the north. "They're using an area in the woods near the big riverbed as a camp. Victoria and at least fifteen newborns were there."
Sam's face grew more serious. "Fifteen?"
Paul clenched his fists. "That's a whole army. If it's hard enough to fight one vampire alone, how are we going to deal with fifteen?"
Embry shrugged. "Axel will deal with them, not us."
Billy was silent for a long time. Then he lifted his eyes to Jacob. "Is there more?"
Jacob paused for a moment, then added the next thing that came to mind. "It looked like one of the newborns tried to escape. But he was caught."
This created a new tension in the pack. Victoria was now in complete control and was managing her vampires strictly. That meant her plans were more organized than they thought.
Leah crossed her arms next to Jacob. "What about the Cullens? Will we have a meeting with them?"
Jacob looked at Billy. "I guess we have no choice now."
Billy nodded slowly. "Let the Cullens and John know. We don't have much time."
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