A/N: Your continued support blows me away! I can't say thank you enough, and know that I read each and every review...I don't always have the chance to get back to you but I do read them! I squeal and sigh and giggle and all when I do. My teenager laughs at me when I make her read them, she could care less, but she humors me cause I have the car keys and the bank card. Anyway...I do appreciate you and love to hear from you!

Thanks to my girls...without you I would be lost and alone! Mamadog93, ttharman, theonlykyla, Shadowed by Passion, and Twistar Junkie. I love you all more than words can say :)

Playlist: Good Morning Heartache-Gretchen Wilson, I Can't Go There- Kenny Chesney, Easy- Rascal Flatts & Natasha Beddingfield, The Truth (featuring Pat Monahan)- Kris Allen~this last song is exactly how Bella feels, so youtube it so you can hear the song!


Chapter 7

Bella

When I came to, I was in my bed at my house with Emily and Charlie by my side. Neither of them realized I had come to yet, as they continued to speak amongst themselves.

"Yeah, her mom would pass out every so often, something about collar cells and all. I can't quite remember, as that was so long ago." Emily nodded her head like Charlie held the secrets to cancer and several other illnesses the world suffered from.

"Well, you know teen-aged girls, they don't eat or drink enough, and they burn off all of their sugar with all the activities they participate in. I'm sure she'll be fine in a few minutes." Emily's eyes met mine, and she gave me a look that spoke volumes. She begged me to not speak of what I had seen or what had actually caused my episode. I gave a slight nod, and Emily took it upon herself to point it out to Charlie I was now awake. "Oh, look, she's awake now." She smiled and patted my leg.

"Hey, Bells, you doing okay?" I nodded at Charlie and attempted to sit up slightly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just embarrassed, that's all." My face heated up, and I knew I wore my tell tale blush.

"Well, I would appreciate it if you wouldn't scare the daylights out of your old man that way ever again." His eyes held relief that warped into love. He patted my leg and rose up off of the bed. "I'll leave you two alone, I have to get back to work now. Emily has agreed to stay with you until I get back home, okay?" I just nodded and he turned to Emily. "You need anything?"

"Nah, we'll be fine. We'll just spend a little girl time and braid each other's hair or something." She chuckled and patted my hand.

"Okay, well you know where to find me; I could get away at any time, if you need me." I nodded and noticed Emily did as well. We both chuckled that our actions matched each other's.

When Charlie left, I realized that my head was about to explode with all the information I had just taken in over the course of one night. I sat back and tried to slow my brain down. I knew my thoughts rushed around too quickly and probably wouldn't make much sense at this rate. I thought about what I needed to know first.

"Did I really see what I thought I saw out there?" My thumb swung over my shoulder to indicate the past hour on the res.

Emily just nodded at me.

"How…I mean, wha…really?" My voice rose and squeaked on the last word.

Emily took a deep breath and held my hand. "Bella, I'm about to tell you some history on our tribe. You think you're up to it?"

My mind still felt like it was in the twisting winds of a tornado. "I…I guess so."

Emily laughed again and leaned in closer to me. Her hand still held mine, but her other arm rested on her knee. She was the picture of relaxed, and it helped ease me a little to see her so worry-free.

"This is normally Sam's responsibility- or at the very least Jake's- but the entire pack thought it might come better from me. For years and years, we've been told our tribe descends from wolves- that we held a special ability to shift shapes. The elders even had stories that told of the times when this happened. They were attacked by the cold ones, and the men of the tribe were so hell bent on protecting their women and children, they shifted into a wolf shape and killed the cold one."

I tensed at her words.

She chuckled and laughed. "Don't worry; their secret is safe for now."

Her words confirmed the pack knew about the Cullens and fear entered my mind until I remembered her words again.

I took a deep breath and she continued. "We didn't come across any vampires for many years, so the stories took on more of a story quality and less of a legend, so to speak. Then several generations ago, several of our boys began to transform again. We wondered what this meant, but soon learned as we came across a few vampires as they hunted in the forest. Only they hunted animals. We had never seen their kind before, and our Chief stopped to talk to their leader. Carlisle explained they didn't harm humans in any way. In fact, they fought to protect them at all costs. Their diet consisted of animal blood only."

I smiled as I once again appreciated the kindness of Carlisle Cullen. He was the epitome of a truly unselfish person.

"We trusted them and made a pact with them. We divided the countryside and gave each side equal amounts of land. They wouldn't infringe on our lands, and we would extend the same courtesy to them as well. But this taught us a valuable lesson; our pack only changes when a vampire is in our area." She took a deep breath and sat up, her eyes filled with sadness as she spoke again. "This treaty has lasted for close to eighty years, but now a vampire has chosen to break this sacred pact. We were very intrigued when we found out the Cullens had been back in the area for a few years and had not affected us, but then all of the sudden the boys began to phase again. First Sam, then other's followed, all the way up to Jake's transformation today. We think it's because a vampire has been on our lands and threatens us. That is why we feel the need to protect our tribe. So here we are, with a rogue vampire on the loose, a pack of shape shifting wolves, and you in the midst of it all." She chuckled and so did I.

"Well, you know it's not the Cullens, right? 'Cause trust me; they're gone. And even if they weren't, if Carlisle made a pact, there's no way on earth he would ever go against it. So that only leaves one other vampire." My eyes filled with fear as I came to this startling conclusion, they must have because Emily's naturally tanned skin paled as well and she stood abruptly.

"Let's get you back out to the res to tell the boys what you know."

I slid my feet into my Chuck's and followed Emily; she drove and it was probably a good idea. Because while on the outside I looked calm on the inside, I was a freaked out mess. Emily stopped in her front yard, and I heard a succession of wolf yelps. Several, in fact. That seemed to be the way they greeted each other. Emily smiled at the obviously familiar sounds to her, and I saw she took this life with the wolf pack on just as easily as I took on the vampire lifestyle. She was truly in love with Sam and would accept any obstacles he brought with him. I understood the predicament. I felt it for not one, but two boys in my life; one more than the other but two for sure.

Several boys ran by me. The group included Embry, who stopped to ask if I was all right. Paul also stopped and apologized for the traumatic way I found out. I pushed his shoulder and we were all good.

Sam came in behind Paul and commented as well. "Jake's right; you're good with weird." I just chuckled because it was true.

"Yeah, well, you're not the first monsters I've come across." Just then I noticed Jake as he stood tentatively in the doorway of Emily's house. I made my way to him. When we were alone on the porch he pulled me into an embrace and swung me around.

"I'm so sorry, Bella. I had no idea about these things. I really thought it was a myth. I never would have dragged you into this had I known. I swear." His face was twisted in pain, and his eyes held the beginnings of tears. I wiped them away and kissed his nose.

"Hey, it's all good. We step into things before we realize what the hell they are sometimes, right?" He just nodded, and we walked back inside.

The boys all sat at a large dining room table, and Emily waved her hand at Jake and me to indicate that we should sit to eat with them. Jake turned to me to gauge my thoughts on it, so I sat down on the end of the bench type seat at the table with the rest of them.

After the meal was devoured, those boys sure could eat, the talk turned back to the vampire issue, and I offered my opinions on their intruder.

"Well, I know it's not any of the Cullens. They're all long gone and have been for awhile now, but I do know who it might be." I looked around the room, and Sam seemed to hold his breath but he nodded at me to continue. "Victoria." I explained the whole story about her mate and how the Cullen's killed him when he came after me. Jake's chest vibrated with a low growl, and Sam gave him a pointed look. Jake stopped the growl and I began to talk again. "It's revenge she wants plain and simple."

Paul spoke his brilliant, and yet hurtful, words all at the same time, "but doesn't she know he dumped you and you've moved on?" His hand lifted a muffin from the platter and deposited it back onto his plate before he noticed the silence and looked around the room. When his gaze caught mine he stopped and reality crashed down on him. "Oh, Bella, I'm so sorry. I just spoke without thinking; I didn't mean it that way." He looked pained at his faux pas, so I just waved him off.

"It's not your fault, Paul; it's his, so no need to apologize at all. You didn't mean it that way, I understand."

Sam began to speak before anything else could be said. "He does have a point, Bella, why would she still want you when you are no longer Edward's mate?" My insides clinched at the words, Edward's mate.

"I don't know; maybe she thought the fact that Edward left was a trick to fool her?"

Jake looked proud his woman could hold intelligent conversation with the tribe and not embarrass him. Much less the fact I could provide useful information, in fact, I was the only person that could provide the info they needed. We talked into the wee hours of the night, and Jake drove me home.

He crashed on my couch until Charlie got home. His new goal was to never leave me unattended now that he knew Victoria was after me. He wanted to be the one to protect me, and it was really easy to fall into a routine with him. So to see him a little more often was no skin off of my back.

The entire pack took up the 'Babysit Bella' plan. They took turns of who would stay close to my house. They could smell a vampire several miles away, so they would stop her before she got to me or any other residents of Forks. Whatever it took to keep me safe. They divided the pack in half and took shifts. I loved that Jake was nearby, but he had to be exhausted after all of the late night runs and extra patrols he had to make. Funny thing was, he loved it. He even said he was surprised at how well he took to it. It was kind of funny since he made fun of Sam and the first few guys that phased. I made sure to tell that joke each and every time I got the chance. They all teased him relentlessly about it.

Several months had passed and there was no hope of catching Victoria at all. Well there were signs of her everywhere, but she was never close enough for the pack to catch and kill her. Sam and Jake were anxious at this point because I was due to graduate in two days, and when I went off to UDub in Seattle, it would be harder for them to follow and protect me. It would also be hard to explain to Charlie why Jake, in love or not, would quit high school and follow his girlfriend off to college. Especially when Jake wouldn't be finished with school for a whole year. I didn't admit it to anyone, but I was afraid myself. I was afraid to be alone because of Victoria, and afraid to be without Jake, afraid to be attacked. I was just afraid; period.

Jake became my rock, my safe place, and my everything. Now, don't get me wrong, Edward was still my one and only love, but Jake and his pack made my life easy to forget the Cullens for a few hours. For that I was thankful beyond belief.

I decided we would cross the college bridge when we got there because for, now, we needed to work out the plan to kill Victoria, so we never had to worry about her again. The guys planned a sneak attack on her; they would lure her with my blood and then kill her. They didn't want me there for fear something could go wrong; they just wanted my blood. So I obliged and stayed home with Emily like a good girl. Seth and Leah, the packs two newest wolves stayed with us. It was better this way anyway. It was time for the annual beach cook out, so we stayed at my house to shop and cook all of the food for the party. Plenty of members of the tribe had moved away came back for the festival. So many I couldn't keep up with their names, just their faces.

I went home to clean up and change because Jake would be back tonight from his trek with the pack. I wanted to see him. He had been gone for three days on the chase after Victoria. It was the longest three days of my life.


E/N: We've got some advancement but never quiet enough, huh? As always there is a polyvore set to go with this, it can be found at http(:)/www(.)/love_death_birth/collection?id=1477956

Till next time...