Chapter 1: Home is where the Trouble is
I was standing in the front yard looking up at the house, I stiffened as a scent invaded my nose, and the mangy wolf that had started the fight was inside with Bella and her father. Walking into the house I found them in the kitchen with freshly drawn up plans to fix the house. When I reached the doorway Jacob was staring at me from the other side of the table he was on the verge of snarling at me.
Pulling my lips over my teeth I gave a small growl before Bella and Charlie looked up at me. I had slipped into the house so quietly that I took them by surprise. I nodded at them and moved to Bella's side and looked at the plans that I would be financing. I slid my arm around Bella's waist and held her close to my side as I scanned the drawing closely. At that moment I was thankful that Charlie was there or I would have ended up paying for kitchen renovations as well.
Charlie rose from his seat, he had plans with a friend to go fishing, and I was barely listening to him until I heard that Jacob's voice chime in saying his friend Sam would be over soon to help with the renovations. I pulled Bella even closer and snarled under my breath. Carlisle had promised Charlie in return for paying for the repairs I would be also helping with said repairs. I knew that it was going to be a long day and the sun hadn't even broken the horizon yet. As Charlie's cruiser pulled out of the driveway my head snapped toward Jacob. "You keep your friends away from Bella, I'm going to protect her from all of you, one little slip up and she'll get hurt." I said spitting my venom at the young werewolf who was standing shirtless across from me his arms were crossed over his chest. I held Bella close and buried my nose in her hair to save her scent in my mind before it would be tainted with werewolf stink.
After an hour the small house was filled with chatter as Jacob explained the plans to the others standing around him. I kept holding Bella like she was life support; their stink was making me gag. I wasn't going to let her get near them. "Bella… come on I needed to get away from the smell for a few minutes at least." I said softly keeping her close, when Bella told me that she wanted to stay inside I grabbed her around the waist and lifted her over my shoulder and brought her out into the backyard. I put Bella down on the grass and sat beside her and held her hand in my hand. I took a deep breath; the scent of the woods cleared my head so that I was able think once again. The werewolf scent was diluted out here. I kept my eyes locked on the woods at the edge of the yard as I heard one particular person coming down the stairs quietly.
"Bella, we're going to start moving the furniture out of the house and we need to know where to put it. So could you come show us where to put it?" he asked. I growled as Bella pulled away from me and went inside with Jacob.
Soon a train of werewolves carrying furniture and putting the furniture around me in the backyard; I got up from the grass and moved to the edge of the woods and leaned against a large tree. When I started to worry about Bella being inside alone with the wolves she came back out and walked over to me with a sheet of white lined paper. I raised my eyebrow a bit as she handed it to me. Glancing at the writing I noticed it was a shopping list. "What's this for?" I asked sounding snippier than normal. "Well Jacob and the others are going to be getting hungry soon so I was hoping that you would run to the store for me and get some food." She said looking down at the ground. I was looking at the list once more.
"I'm already paying for the repairs and a new couch now I have to feed these mutts?" I remarked not caring how I sounded. Bella looked at me "I want to repay them with lunch and they tend to eat a lot and I have to start setting the table, besides you can get away from them like you wanted to." she said with a smirk.
"Yeah, which means I'll be leaving you here with them putting you in more danger than you normally get in by just being alone." I said still holding onto the list. In the back of my mind I was debating whether or not to go. If I went she would get hurt by one of them, if she came with me she was also in danger. "For your information Edward I'm always in trouble especially with a vampire for a boyfriend and a werewolf for a best friend, so all of your worrying is moot" she said with an emphasis on the fact that we weren't two normal teens she hung out with.
I grabbed my hair on the side of my head and growled a bit "Do you even hear yourself, yes you're in danger with me around but you're in more danger being around a bunch of flea bitten werewolves that could snap in a moment's notice, I've had years of practice to control myself." I remarked laughing a bit in a somewhat sarcastic tone.
I stopped laughing when I saw Jacob coming toward us he had a cheerful look on his face. When he put his arm around Bella's shoulder I had to hold myself back from jumping him and taking him out right then. "We'll take very good care of Bella she's going to be safe with us around, if any bloodsuckers try to get near her we'll finish them off… don't worry if we do any damage to the house we won't charge you for it" he said laughing and pulling Bella closer to his body. I gave a warning snarl telling Jacob that he was pushing it being that close to Bella in front of me.
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Getting free from Jacob's arm was easier than normal as I moved in between them. A few moments passed and I was able to convince Edward to make the run to the supermarket for me. Since he ran all the way here this morning I gave him the key to my truck. As I stood in the back yard I heard the engine roar to life and head down the street and head for town. Jacob headed back inside when his friend Sam called him for help. I wanted to stay out of their way as much as possible. I found the arm chair from the living room sitting on a flat area of the yard. Taking a seat I looked up at the sky it was pretty overcast and I hoped that any rain we would have would hold off until the furniture was back in the house. I curled up and put my head down on the arm of the chair, using one of the small pillows to support my head I decided to pass the time waiting with a nap. I had been woken so early with Jacob and his friends showing up before Charlie left that I was still tired. The moment I closed my eyes my body began to feel heavy with sleep and soon the dreams started.
I was standing in my back yard and I was walking slowly into the forest, I could hear a growl that I would recognize anywhere. Moving faster I found Edward standing there alone. He moved forward in the blink of an eye and embraced me, he leaned in and began to kiss me with such a fire that I felt like I was going to burst into flames, when I managed to push him away he had changed now Jacob standing before me shirtless and holding me against his feverish body. It felt like I was on the cliff again behind Edward's house, I wanted to fall this time into warmth that's when Jacob began to change like Edward had before him. I began to struggle as the arms around me began to crush me like a vice.
I was screaming the sound of my screams were so loud even to me, the heat was replaced with ice. Jacob had turned into the one man I never could get out of my dreams. Laurent was standing where Jacob and Edward before him had been. I thrashed like a helpless animal while he forced his lips onto mine, they were cold like Edward's but there was no love in them at all. I began to claw helplessly at his stone cheeks as he pulled away quickly, then the tremendous pain in my chest as I looked down and saw his hand plunged in my chest his hand around my heart crushing it.
I woke up and began to panic when I felt something over my mouth again; I began to claw at it on instinct only to realize that it was a warm hand. I opened my eyes and saw Jacob pulling his deeply scratched hand away the blood was flowing freely. When I saw his bloody hand I began to sob, sitting up a pair of cold arms were around me, I started to panic and my breathing became erratic.
"Bella breathe, you've got to calm down and breathe before you pass out" The voice said as the arms pulled me closer. I struggled to get away until I was released and I fell out of the arms and off of the chair. My knees bashed against the ground hard which jarred me slightly. I moved across the ground a bit till I felt safe and I turned around and saw Jacob and Edward staring at me along with all of Jacob's friends that came with him. They were looking at me like I was a mad woman. My knees were throbbing along with my head; when Edward moved over to my side and touched my shoulder I flinched away from his cold touch as the lightheaded feeling started to pass. Edward backed away and looked at Jacob "I leave her alone with you half an hour and the moment I get back she's screaming her lungs out like she's being tortured. What the hell did you do to her?" he snarled.
" I didn't do anything to her, she fell asleep in the chair and she was fine when checked on her the first time then I came out a second time and she just started to scream so I covered her mouth to keep the neighbors from thinking she was being murdered. So I didn't do a thing. It was a nightmare that had to do with you… she flinched away from you." Jacob said coming closer to me. I looked at him; I became stiff like a board of wood as he put his warm arms around me. Soon his large warm hand was rubbing against my back. I sighed softly and began to calm down, my breathing returned to normal as I felt my eyelids start to close, they felt like they were burning as I fell into a semi unconscious state. I was aware of the voices around me but I just didn't want to open my eyes again. I felt Jacob lift me with ease and carry me into the kitchen. I opened my eyes as Jacob put me down on a kitchen chair and someone placed a glass of water in front of me, I grabbed the glass of water and drank it down.
Edward took the open seat across from me, it was a tight fit with all of the others crowding around watching me like I was a doll about to break, but then again I did just have a fit out in the back yard so it was understandable that they were worried. I rubbed my eyes and took in a deep breath before standing up under my own power. With a forced smile I pushed everyone out of the kitchen and back to work. Edward stayed sitting at the table I could feel his eyes on me as Sam and Jacob were bringing me the bags of food that where sitting in the bed of the truck. I began unpacking the bricks of cheese and deli meats that I had asked for. When I pulled the knife out of the drawer to slice the meat I became nervous having Edward watching me so intently.
"Edward could you please leave the room for a few minutes you making me nervous, I'm not going to hurt myself on purpose." I said keeping my back to him. I didn't even hear him get up from the chair, right away he was standing behind me.
"Not a chance, I left you alone once and you were hurt; it may not have been physically but you were still hurt, something in your dreams hurt you what's even worse is that I wasn't there at your side first. I heard you scream then it just stopped. If my heart was beating it would have stopped right then. I thought Laurent or Victoria had gotten the better of me and you were dead." He whispered putting his arms around me. I cringed at the names and put the knife back down on the counter. For once Edward's arms weren't comforting they just reminded me of the dream. I slowly pulled out of his arms to not hurt his feelings. "Edward, I need some time away from you for a little while…it's nothing you've done at all, I just need to get myself back to my old self." I said whispering.
Edward reacted as I thought he would, he pulled away and turned me to face him. "So you want me to leave so you can be with your precious little wolf is that it?" he asked his voice was cold and biting like a winter night. "I never said that, your arms around me remind me of my dream and I'm just scared about the meaning behind my dream" I said looking into his eyes. He snarled a bit and moved a step back away from me. "You may not have said it but I can tell, you moved away from me when I tried to help, and then you cuddled against that wolf, if you want me to leave then I'll leave because clearly you've already gotten tired of me and replaced me with someone else." He said making his way over to the back door. He pulled the door opened and looked back at me "I loved you with all my heart and being and I guess that wasn't enough for you" he said solemnly, before I had a chance to move toward him he was gone.
My heart felt like it was being stabbed with millions of knives, each one more painful than the last. If I knew Edward he wasn't going to go home it would be too easy. As soon as I started to think of Edward the phone began to ring, grabbing the receiver I lifted it up to my ear. "Bella, hi it's Alice… I was just calling to ask why Edward is running away. His mind is all over the place. We're worried that he's going to do something very reckless. Carlisle sent Emmett and Jasper after him to see if they can get Edward to talk." Alice said in her quick voice. I felt a lump grow in my throat. It wasn't my fault that Edward ran but I felt bad anyway. "Alice could you come over…" before I even finished speaking she was standing before me. I hung up the phone and sat it back down on the table. "Edward ran away because he took something I said the wrong way and he didn't give me a chance to explain what had happened." I mumbled as I began to cut up the meat and cheese for the others. I was shocked that I was able to do so much so quickly.
Alice stayed in the kitchen as I brought the heaping tray out to the front yard where Jacob and the others were waiting; each one of them had a whole cooked chicken sitting in front of them. As soon as I set the tray down they attacked the tray like a pack and started in on their chickens. I went back inside as they ate. I still had four more bags of meat and cheese left over, I had a feeling I would need it. I took a seat at the kitchen table and sighed "I'll tell you what happened, since I know you're going to ask me." I looked at Alice and smiled a bit "I don't need any special gifts to know that you're dying to know what happened." I said sighing again. Across the table from me Alice sat waiting for every detail of the story. By the time I was done my throat was sore and she had moved over to my side and was hugging me. It took me a moment to realize I was crying again.
