Disclaimer: As per usual, I own nothing. Please read on.
Bella stormed out of the house, gripping her car keys tightly in one hand. She was fed up. Fed up. She thought when Edward came back from Volterra that things would be different, that there wouldn't be any more obstacles standing in the way of their relationship. But instead of him being the wonderful, perfect man she remembered, over the last few weeks he'd turned into a controlling bastard. So she decided that today, she'd go to Jake's and hope her best friend could help her to remember why she had chosen the vampire.
Now Bella wrenched open her truck door, and Edward appeared in front of her, a sad expression on his face. "Where are you going, love?" Even his voice sounded wrong to her ears. It was much too high, too musical. It was housed in marble and ice, not muscle, bones and fire.
She frowned at him. "I'm going to La Push. To see Jake."
Edward wrinkled his perfect nose. "I don't like when you go to see him, he thinks about you too much for my liking." I rolled my eyes, desperate to be out of here.
"Edward. Jacob has an imprint. Emily Sireon, you remember? Pretty girl, black hair, good cook?" This relationship he'd created between my highly in love best friend and I was getting increasingly ridiculous. Mainly because if I chose any of the wolves at La Push to date or do anything with, including the imprinted ones, it wouldn't be Jacob.
Edward sighed almost delicately at me, and spoke to me very slowly, as if educating a child. "Bella love, this isn't in your best interest. Jacob doesn't deserve you. I don't trust him with you, you are too delicate." He reached a hand out to touch my face, and I slapped it away, his mouth dropping open in shock. My eyes narrowed, and I felt anger rising inside me like a tidal wave.
When I spoke, it was very soft and deceivingly gentle. "Let me see if I understand this correctly. The whole reason that you aren't going to let me see my best friend is because not only do you think that we are in some kind of impossible relationship, but that I am too fragile for him. You also think that he is somehow going to hurt me, is that correct?"
Edward's face broke out into a smile, all of his perfect features lighting up. The expression didn't dazzle me now like it used to, too much had happened between us. Edward said in a relieved tone, "Now you understand."
I glared at him, fuming. "How dare you."
He cocked his head to the side, as if trying to figure out a difficult puzzle. "Sorry?"
I clenched my hands at my sides, staring up at him (although not as far up as I'd have to look at the person I wanted to see next). I couldn't believe he was acting like this. He of all people should know that Jacob could never, would never hurt me. None of the wolves would. I said evenly, "You are the ony person who can cause me damage, Edward. You are the only one who has. The wolves are the ones who took me in and cared for me when you left, Edward. Have you seen Jacob's memories of what I used to look like? I was broken, Edward. And you were the one who did it."
He gave me a pained look. "Dearest, the only reason I left-" I threw my hands up in the air, cutting him off.
"You don't get it, do you? In all the time that I have known both your family and the pack, only one of you has hurt me. Your family. That doesn't mean I don't love them, but recently, I haven't been so sure about loving you." I hissed the last part at him, and he leaned back away from me, shocked.
I pressed on, determined to make him understand the damage that had been done to our relationship. "You've turned into a controlling, weaseling, manipulative, irritating, whiny little bastard." I ignored his gasp of breath at my cursing; he could just deal with it. "I guess you've always been that way, but now I see it. Now I see that Rosalie is probably the only one of you that actually gives a shit about me, the rest of your family just wants me to turn, marry you, and then us live happily ever after so that you will just shut up about it."
He looked very confused at what I was saying. "Bella, don't you love me?"
I rolled my eyes. "Not nearly as much as I thought I did. Honestly, when Alice came and told me you had gone to Volterra to kill yourself, I was acting on habit. Going after you. Out of habit, Edward, not real, true desire. I couldn't let you kill yourself over something so completely petty. And then when we get there, you're turning tail and leaving because you're afraid to die."
He shook his head, firmly. "No, Bella, that's not it. Alice-" I held up a hand, stopping him. He looked like he was ready to cry, had he been able to do so. I took a deep breath, knowing that I might regret saying this.
"Edward, can you change? Really, really change?" He looked at me pleadingly, and I knew the answer. I felt a part of myself, much smaller than what it used to be, give up on him and retreat. I rubbed my forehead. "We're done, Edward. I'm sorry, but I can't be in this kind of relationship. I can't deal with this."
His marble hand closed around my wrist. "Bella, please. Don't go. I can't change, I'm sorry but please don't leave me."
I shook my head. "Edward, it's over. This-" I motioned between our bodies, indicating our relationship. "-is simply not healthy. It's not natural." I tugged my wrist out of his grasp. "Move out of the way Edward, let me go."
His face turned hard. "No." He reached behind himself and slammed the truck door, then moved to stand guard-like in front of it.
I cocked my head to the side, my anger rising again over any regret or sorrow that I had felt. "Excuse me, surely I didn't hear that right."
He shook his perfect marble head back and forth. "No, Bella. I accept that you no longer want me, but I will not stand by and allow you to associate with those mongrels!"
My jaw dropped. "Allow me, Edward? Allow me? You don't get to 'allow me' to do anything, you have no say over my life anymore, zip, nil, nadda. Do you understand?!" I yelled at him, frustration and anger focused on te figure of the man I used to feel that I would, quite literally, die for. The knowledge of his true nature and personality sent my skin crawling.
He shook his head again. "No, Bella. I will not allow this. You cannot go to La Push, you simply cannot." It occurred to me that he kept flicking his eyes over my shoulder, checking the road, like he was expecting someone.
My eyes widened and then narrowed in realization. "You absolute prick! You're waiting for Alice and Jasper to get here so they can do their little vampire magic on me so I'll love you again! You prick!"
He didn't deny it, and I stormed back towards the house. "Get out. Get out of my house, get out of my life, and most importantly, Edward Masen Cullen;" I turned, knowing that he'd be standing right behind me, and glared as menacingly as I could at him. "-I want you and your brother to get out of my fucking head!" He visibly blanched, and I slammed the door in his face, my mind whirring. As soon as Alice and Jasper got here, there'd be nowhere to run; I didn't have any defenses against Jasper. Alice would have seen the breakup, but I didn't know how long ago that was or how much time I had. That left out Charlie; they would probably just magic him too.
I raced to the phone and let my fingers dial a number Jacob had me memorize for emergencies, not knowing who would be on the other end. The phone rang once, twice, and then- "Uley." I slapped my forehead. Of course it would be Sam, he was the Alpha, why didn't I think to call him sooner. "Uh, hey Sam, it's me, Bella. Please don't hang up I really need you right now. Edward's not letting me leave the house and his brother and sister are going to come over and make me fall in love with him again and I don't want to and I'm kinda really scared right now-"
He said very seriously, "Bella, we can't offer you protection if you're dating a leech, it'd break the treaty." I sighed in irritation and frustration.
"SAM! I broke up with him, and he's really-" The front door burst open, the wood splintering at the force of the impact as it collided with the wall. I screeched into the phone, and saw Edward's figure in the doorway. I whispered hurriedly into the phone, knowing Edward could hear me anyway, "Please, Sam, you've got to help me, you've got to get me out of here!"
The phone was ripped from my hands and torn from the wall. Edward stood above me, looking very disappointed indeed. "Sam Uley is a better man than Jacob, but even he isn't good enough for you, Bella."
I looked at him as if he were speaking in tongues. What the fuck was wrong with him? He never used to do stuff like this, it was so out of character…But then again, he'd always been like this with any male that ever even spoke to me. He'd always freak out when I laughed at something one of the boys said at our lunch table, and I had thought that it was sweet at the time. I shivered when I realized how wrong I was.
Edward shook his head, sighing. He opened his perfect mouth to speak, but he was no longer standing in front of me, but instead standing outside. Well, laying down outside with a very angry Sam Uley holding him there. Edward spoke hatefully. "Listen, dog. You have no right to be here, it is not your land."
Sam said just as coolly in his rough, deep voice, "I received a distress call from a human who no longer claims any connections to you and who desires protection from you." Sam snarled in Edwards face, his features twisting into something angry and powerful. "I have every right to be here, you little shit."
Sam let go of Edward and I found myself in his arms almost immediately following. Edward's face turned seething and he said hotly, "You put her down, you good for nothing son of a-"
Edward didn't get to finish, because Sam chose that moment to let out a thunderous, menacing, hair raising roar that sounded from deep within his chest. It didn't sound human at all, it sounded feral, wild, and angry. Sam said in a voice that carried undercurrents of power and authority like I had never heard before; "You will not touch her, leech. You will not try to contact her. You will not even come near her. Or you will hear from me. Because from this moment on, she is mine." And we were gone, Sam racing through the forest at a blinding speed and I clung to his chest, grinning like a fool.
I laughed in relief, and Sam looked down at me curiously. I explained, knowing that he could hear me even with the rush of the wind and the fact that I couldn't hear myself, "I am so glad I was there to see that. Thank you." Sam grinned, and raved faster through the forest, leaping fallen trees and other obstacles as easily as if he were walking over twigs. When I started to recognize certain landmarks of the forest, I knew that we had crossed the treaty line and I relaxed fully in his grip. He slowed to a stop, but didn't put me down.
"Did he do anything to hurt you?" I shook my head no, and he continued. "Do you know what it means, what I said back there?" I shook my head again, no. He grimaced and said, "It means that as of that particular moment onward, my wolf has chosen to induct you into the pack." He studied my face, waiting for my reaction.
I grinned up at him. "Cool."
A/N: I know, I know! I should be working on Given A Sunset, I even have the next chapter written, but I couldn't help myself, I got this idea into my head and had to write it down. It's rough, but hey, aren't we all?
