BPOV

I knelt at her feet in the cabin. My grandmother Swan was rocking in the same chair that had been in my room for as long as I could remember. The same chair Edward would sit in when he used to keep vigil over my dreams. I was dreaming. Finally dreaming... But this dream felt real, vivid and clear. I could actually feel the heat from the fireplace. Smell the burning wood. She passed to me a large leather bound book. It looked to be an ancient, well used thing and I lovingly ran my hand over the soft black cover. Its massive size and fragile pages fascinated me as I felt a primal connection to what was inside. Upon opening it I realized immediately the pages within were the product of many hands. There were journal entries, watercolors of flowers and herbs, medicinal and magical properties written for each one in varying examples of penmanship and language. There were notes on astrology and incantations written in bold red ink. My grandmother recited soft stories of her mother, her mother's mother, her voice droning back to the edges of time. She talked of destiny, age old secrets and the hunting and burning of our matriarchal line. My heart's pace quickened when I came across charcoal drawings of wolves running in the forest. Her voice became silent as my gaze fell upon a very familiar set of golden eyes on the very last page. My hand flew to my mouth in shock and I looked to my grandmother. She leaned down to me and whispered:

"Bella, you must find the book. It is everything you were, are and could be. He will help you understand. Wake up child! The wolf runs back to you! Protect what is yours."

Edward's melodic voice outside my window pulled me from my sleep. He was still here? What time was it? 6:55 pm. I had slept the whole day away! I scrambled out of bed and looked out the window to see who he was talking to. I could see Jacob in wolf form coming out of the forest. The last words spoken by my grandmother in my dream resurfaced and my insides twisted with dread. I barely registered the uncanny precognitive element of my first dream in 9 years. There was no time. Jacob's ears were low and his teeth were bared.

Oh my god... He was going to charge Edward!

I flew downstairs and burst out of the house running to Edward just as Jacob was barreling down on him. My only thought was to protect him. Pulsing with energy, I felt like my heart was going to explode out of my chest. I screamed at Jacob to stop but it was too late; He was too close. Every fiber in my being was desperate to do something, anything to protect Edward.

I felt a crackle of energy trail up from my toes out to the tips of my fingers. A phosphorescent blue light shot out from me covering Edward and I in a... Was it a shield? The air smelled like ozone; my body unprepared and rigid with the gripping voltage of power. I felt the impact of Jacob's body hitting the force field and he yelped at the connection and miraculously deflected. He phased into human form upon hitting the ground looking at me in surprise and fear.

What. The. Hell. Was. That? My brain screamed.

Edward looked down at me with a look of absolute shock and awe as he grabbed my shoulders roughly yelling my name. The blue light disappeared and my body turned to jelly. He held me tightly so I would not connect with the ground. The last thing I heard before I succumbed to oblivion were Edward's earnest pleas for my welfare tinged with surprise,

"Bella are you all right? What... What was that? What did you do?"

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EPOV

Jacob was pacing the living room floor. He was furious, but maintaining his human form. He was shimmering a bit when he let his eyes fall on me however. I know he was only allowing my presence for her sake and I respected him for it.

Bella was still passed out cold on the couch. I stood motionless beside her listening to the jealous, indignant ranting and profanity within Jacob's head. There was nothing in his thoughts in regards to the spectacular light show his wife just performed to save me. I would see flashes of that frantic scene in his mind and he would push it out with panic and dread rising to the surface. Interesting.

I replayed that shocking scene in my head over and over. Jacob coming at me before I could even crouch to get ready for his attack, my love threw her fragile body in front of mine her chest erupting a brilliant blue light. Her eyes turned completely black, mouth drawn in a hard line of shock and agony. She had thrown up an actual physical shield of protection to fend off the dog's attack. After Jacob was thrown from us, the light was gone. Bella turned deathly pale, muttering incredulous profanities and fainted for the second time in 24 hours.

Jacob turned to me and crossed his arms over his chest.

"What the hell was she doing at the cabin? You promised me you wouldn't interfere; I allowed you your little stalker game because I knew you would never have the balls to go near her and I could keep an eye on your creepy ass."

"Honestly Jacob, I had no idea she would..." I began.

"You knew he was out there?" She said quietly.

This will not bode well for either of us.

Jacob knelt down beside her; "Bella, are you OK? I'm so sorry, I never should have left..."

She pushed him away turning a terrible shade of red. She stood up and glared daggers at him when he reached out to her to help her up from the couch. She shook with anger and fisted her hands into her hair. I was bracing myself for a nuclear sized meltdown and was riveted to the floor. She exhaled slowly and snapped her head up and narrowed her eyes at Jacob. Her voice held chilling control:

"You knew he was out there and you never told me?"

Jacob hung his head like a shamed dog.

"Jacob Black, you will look me in the eye and answer me." she ground out through clenched teeth.

He stood up, his hulking frame towering over her. The contrast in their size was never more evident, but it was clear who was the most dangerous. She straightened her posture and locked her arms across her chest. His mind was scattered, blown wide open with her vehement glare. His feeble excuse rolled out in a rush of desperation:

"Bells, you didn't think he would ever come back. I thought you had finally accepted that when you told the Elders, the Cullens would never return. I thought you were finally OK with that. I thought I would be enough. When I found out he was out there, I let him stay because he promised he would never interfere with you or I... That he knew he was not good for you and that was why he left. I felt sorry for the poor bastard and truly did not think him a threat."

And then, she did something I never expected.

"Edward. Get me out of here."

JPOV

I could not believe that she just left OUR home with that bloodsucking leech.

I could not believe she manifested her latent power in saving him.

I could not believe the legend of "The Black Family Curse" my grandfather told me was true.

I figured the Legacy had skipped her. Grandfather had once lamented if her powers didn't show during her teen years they would never show at all. Talk about your late bloomers. Who knew she had it in her?

All my life I grew up listening to my grandfather tell stories of our people around the Bonfire. One evening while we were alone in the house, he told a story that had a more melancholy tone. I knew how concerned he and Billy were about the shape shifting skipping me as well. At the time, I thought he told me this story to explain why no Black has phased since Ephraim, my great grandfather. I had no idea the relevance this story would have on my life as it is today. My marriage in ruins and my love hijacked by a god damn leech.

"Many moons ago there was a great ship that wrecked off the coast and our ancestors overtook the survivors as slaves..."

I was shocked my people took slaves. Even more shocked that the slaves were usually victims of shipwrecks.

"Among these slaves was a beautiful, young pale face whose parents had died amongst the rocks. The Medicine man of our tribe, Uriah Clearwater called her forward so that he could inspect her. She would not look at him and hid behind a blanket of fire red hair. He knew red was the color of power..of life. He sensed the young white woman had power within her. He used his small grip on her language and asked her name. She called herself Leda and finally dared to look at him. She had eyes like a doe. There was sadness in her gaze but great knowing and painful beauty. In that moment, Uriah imprinted on her. Tribal Law had no record of a Wolf Brother imprinting on a pale face. He feared what his brothers would do to her upon finding out his true connection to her. To protect her, he used all of his power as a shape shifter and a medicine man to not phase into a wolf. If he was not part of the pack, the pack could not hear his mind. To Leda's delight, Uriah would change himself into a Swan as a demonstration of this power to her. In turn, she showed him how she could make flowers grow from a rock and fruit trees grow laden with bounty in less then a day. She showed him how to make healing poultices with surrounding herbs and roots and she went with him daily to gather his supplies for his rituals. They taught each other their magics and they gave each other the most powerful of love. She found herself with child and came to Uriah right away. She knew enough of tribal law to know that premarital relations were punishable by exile.

Uriah did the only thing he could for his love. He set her free during the annual potlatch ceremony. She was no longer his slave. But as she was no longer his slave, he could no longer see her. In the eyes of the tribe she was an unworthy mate for a tribe member, let alone an Elder and their Medicine Man. She would pollute the Quileute blood if their union resulted in a child.

He built her a cabin in the woods so she would be safe and close to him and could have their child in peace. She birthed twins. A boy and a girl. Four times a year, as Medicine Man of the village, he was required to take a Spirit Walk. He would use this time to secretly visit his soul mate and children. In the dead of night he would come to her as a Swan and lay with her and know the pleasures of love that his heart had burned for while she was exiled from him.

Then the Cold Ones came. The natural born enemies of the Shape shifters They were the very reason we shape shifted into the wolves that were made to kill them. Uriah did not have the power to resist this change and in the instant he became a wolf to run with the pack, his brothers knew of his long kept secret and blasphemy.

After the treaty was made with the Cold Ones, Ephraim, your great grandfather and Alpha of the pack had no choice but to hand down a direct order to Uriah to abandon his wife and children forever as their powers were an abomination and plague to the pure blood of the Quileute wolf line. In an attempt to refuse the Alpha's binding command, Uriah's heart burst from the effort to remain, and he died in his witch lover's arms. A great wind swept up around the forest and the witch Leda's eyes went black with fury and dark magics. She pointed her finger at your great grandfather and cursed him with a venomous scream. She cursed his children and their children's children to a life without power, without imprinting. She vowed the only thing that could break this curse was the impossible. One of her descendants and a Cold One must imprint on each other. The unholy union would have to be blessed by the Pack before the bonds of the curse could be broken.

A great black shadow then surged out from the witch's chest and slammed into your great grandfather. The black ghost pulled forth a red light from the heart of him and he screamed in agony and despair.

As quick as it came, the great wind quieted and all that could be heard were Ephraim's gasps and Uriah's children's quiet sobs. The pack left the woman and her children to deal with the body of their claimed husband and father. The witch was left alone and feared greatly by the Elders of the tribe. It is said that Leda took the last name of Swan in honor of her husband.

Her descendants still live in Forks."

The last sentence of his story made my blood run cold. "Grandfather... Is Bella?"

Grandfather nodded solemnly. "Her father Charlie is the grandson of Leda Swan and Uriah Clearwater."

"Can Charlie do... Magic?" I could never picture chief Swan performing crazy shaman mojo like I've seen Harry Clearwater do...

"No-it is believed that the magics of Leda's ancestors is passed only through the women. Her daughter Marie was magic, but her son Uriah was not."

"Does that mean my friend Bella...?"

"We don't know Jacob...But we are watching and waiting for her power to emerge and hope that the curse of our family will be lifted through your young friend. Since Ephraim, no Black has imprinted.. no Black has been able to shape shift. This is a great sadness to your heritage considering the power and standing your great grandfather had within the tribe as Alpha."

It never dawned on me until now the ACTUAL reason I was the first Black to shape shift since my great grandfather. The curse her great grandmother placed upon my family was only partially lifted when that Leech and my Bella fell in love with each other. I have been keeping the curse of not being able to imprint in place with my pride and stubbornness in not letting her go. God damn Leech was her destiny.

It was my destiny to let her go.

Fuck. My. Life.