Chapter 7
Rated T
Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I mean it's obviously not me because Bella kissed Jacob willingly in this story.
Seth was afraid to speak on the ride back to the Swan's house from the Cullen's. He could feel the absolute fury rolling off Bella's body in waves. He was actually pretty worried about Jake. She was just a little peanut compared to them, but she had the power to break him now.
The tires skidded as she made an abrupt stop in front of the white house. She flew out of the truck without turning the engine off. Seth grabbed the keys and followed her up to the house.
"Back off, Seth," she bit out when he got too close.
Jake met them at the front door.
"Would you like to explain this, Jacob Ephraim?" She held her hand out with the mangled engagement ring in her palm. He bit back a grin at the disgusting piece of jewelry he destroyed.
"What is it?" He asked innocently. Big mistake. Bella reached up and slapped his face as hard as she could. Amazingly, she didn't flinch in pain like he expected, and even more surprisingly, was that it actually stung a little.
"You know exactly what it is! The question is when did you remove it from my finger and what makes you think you have the right to take it?" She was shaking with anger at this point.
Jake reacted to her. He stepped into her space. "You are my mate. I have every right!"
"Your mate? What makes you think for one second that I am your mate?"
"How brainwashed does that bloodsucker have you, Bella? Are you really that oblivious? You know, right up until now, I thought you were pretty smart," he sneered at her. "Except for your taste in boyfriends."
"I am not brainwashed, Jacob!" she replied haughtily.
Just at that moment, Edward and Alice pulled up in front of the house. Edward got out and ran up to the porch.
"Bella, we need to go. Please, love, it's time to leave," Edward gently and carefully grabbed Bella's hand, intertwining their fingers and standing next to her. Jake was vibrating with rage. If Bella weren't so close, he would have laid Edward Cullen out flat right then.
Frozen, watching Jake so close to phasing, Bella debated what she should do. Edward grabbed her bodily and ran with her to the car. Alice was ready and had her foot to the floor immediately. The car squealed and swung from side to side as it raced away.
Jake screamed out, "Bella! No, don't go!" He screeched with terror and ran for the trees. His body was a blur and his clothes dotted the lawn. Seth followed behind him, adding to the spray of torn clothing.
The other wolves felt the compulsion to phase and ran to the woods, barely containing their wolves. As soon as they phased in, they saw Edward snatching Bella replay on loop in Jake's mind. Shock went through the group, that was soon followed with fury to match their alpha's.
Storming through the trees, the pack converged as one near the Cullen property. Once they broke the tree line there, Jake phased. He screamed for Bella; Alice's yellow Porsche left in front of the house.
"Edward, what did you do?" Carlisle whispered in the house, which didn't help at all with the supernatural hearing.
They could all hear Bella sobbing in the house.
"Why is she here? What makes you think it was okay to take her from the wolves? Now we are all in danger! Damn it, Edward!" Carlisle hissed as he stomped to the front door. He held his palms out, trying to placate Jake. "I'm going to get Bella and bring her right out. I'm on your side here, Jake. There's no need for violence."
Carlisle walked from the front door but left it wide open. He turned into the living room to see Bella curled up on the couch, and Edward standing guard.
"I can't let you take her, Carlisle. She is my fiancée! She agreed to marry me. Any claim he has on her is unwarranted and will no longer matter once she is changed!"
"Oh, I don't fricking think so!" Jacob exclaimed, jumping the porch steps in one leap. He walked into the room to see a vampire faceoff. Edward stood with Alice against Rosalie and Carlisle. The others stood still as statues at the sides of the room.
"Sparkles, you have exactly one second to move away from Bella before I remove your head from your body," Jacob warned. To back him up, Embry, Quil and Sam walked in the door, followed by Paul and Brady. They all knew it would get ugly if it came down to a fight.
"Bella is free to go if she wishes. But I know she wants to remain here. I can see her and Edward's wedding, and as a vampire. Those are her decisions," Alice spoke boldly.
"If Bella is free to go, then move out of her way," Jake taunted.
"Don't Alice, he wants us to move so he can grab her and run," Edward spat petulantly.
Jake changed his stance to a more relaxed one and switched up his tactic. "Honey, do you want to stay here or do you want to come with me? You told me you wouldn't go. Think about everything that has happened since the battle and you tried to leave me. You couldn't even leave the res without breaking down crying. Please, tell them you want to come with me." His voice was soft and pleading.
"Jake," Bella started and then she paused, caught up in her tears. "I can't go with you."
The room fell silent as Jake fell to his knees, his breath whooshing out of his lungs audibly as if he'd been punched. All of the wolves were breaking under Jake's own heartache. They struggled to remain standing.
Slowly, taking deep breaths, Jake stood to his full height. He was furious. He turned to Carlisle. "If you or your coven turn her, it will be the end of all of you."
"I understand, Jacob," Carlisle nodded. Jake jerked his head toward the front door and his pack began to go out the door.
He concentrated fully on leaving but at the last second, turned and ran back full speed into Edward, catching him unaware. Jake grabbed Bella and crashed through the back window, protecting her body from the glass. There was no thought about what to do next, he ran back to the res with her in his arms, the pack surrounding them as they ran.
Surprisingly, the vampires did not follow them. The commotion in the house sounded like the others were trying to keep Edward from following. Since the pack was standing out in front of the house waiting, they heard Carlisle scream at Edward to stop and not follow.
When they came out of the trees in Jake's backyard, a sight stopped Jake in his footsteps. It was Charlie Swan standing next to his car, looking quite surprised to see the group of men and Leah following Jake out of the woods. Bella lay in his arms, not moving, still crying quietly.
"Jake? What's going on? Is Bella hurt? Wh…why…why are you guys in the woods?" he stuttered out, his heart similarly stuttering in worry for his daughter. His eyes searched the others and noticed their odd lack of clothing. It wasn't the first time he'd noticed but certainly the first time he'd seen them following Jake like that.
"No, Charlie. She's okay physically. Edward Cullen snatched her from your front yard today and I, well we, went and got her back."
"He took her? What does that mean?" his face was screwed up as he tried to understand, his hands resting on his hips.
"Charlie, she was talking to Jake at your house on the front porch. Cullen showed up talking about them needing to leave. Then he picked her up and drove off with her, Alice driving the getaway car," Sam stepped up by Jake, just a few inches behind.
Charlie's mouth opened and closed, as he tried to think of what to say to the news. He'd never cared for the scrawny priss. Always so perfectly behaved and proper when he spoke, made Charlie feel like the little twit thought he was a dumb hick.
"Why's she crying?" he asked, not able to think of anything else at that moment.
"Well, I haven't had a chance to talk to her since we left. But I think she was scared when he took her like that, not sure what was going to happen. Edward and Carlisle got into it. He was unhappy with Edward."
"Of course he should be mad! What kind of teenage boy takes a teenage girl?" Charlie asked, his voice getting gruffer as he finished his question.
A couple of snickers sounded off in the group. Jake turned and glared at them. That would not help the situation.
"I'd like to get Bella in the house and get her some food, if that's okay with you, Charlie," Jake asked in such a way that Charlie would think it was his idea.
"Great idea, Jake. Let's do that," Charlie turned around and walked toward the back door of the house.
Billy saw the expression on Jake's face when they came in the house. Almost silently, Jake ordered everyone else to run patrol around the border. He didn't want Cullen making a beeline for Bella again.
"Hey Charlie, Jake. What's going on with Bella?"
"Apparently, that great boyfriend of hers thought it would be a good idea to steal my daughter from me today, but your son took care of it," Charlie jerked his thumb over his shoulder.
Billy knew that getting Charlie out of the house was going to be critical. "Charlie, my doctor was supposed to call in some medicine for me. Can you drive me to the pharmacy to check on it?"
Charlie glanced at Bella, still unmoving in Jake's arms. "I don't know, Billy. I'm not sure I should leave her like this."
"Jake will watch her until we get back. Please, Charlie, this medicine will really help me with that problem I was telling you about. You know that really uncomfortable itch." Billy gestured to his crotch and Charlie shivered, not wanting any more details.
"Fine, fine!" Charlie gave it, clearly unhappy about it. "You call me immediately if something changes. We will be right back."
"Not if I can help it," Billy muttered as he rolled out of the front door.
"Bells?" Jake said, as he walked toward the couch, still not shifting Bella from his arms. She had stopped crying but hadn't looked at him.
"Are you mad at me? I'm sorry I broke the engagement ring. I just couldn't stand the idea of you marrying him. I know you don't believe that you're the alpha female, but please, give me a few days. If you don't believe me in a few days, I'll give you the choice in what you do. You can go now if you want," he sighed. "The wolf couldn't take it when he stole you from us like that."
Jake's arms went lax. He left Bella on his lap, but it was up to her now. She had to decide to stay with him. As much as he wanted to force her, he knew that she would only resent him. His heart broke when she stood up from the couch. It was going to hurt to watch her walk away from him, when he loved her so much.
Instead of leaving, she walked to his bedroom and closed the door. A small breath of relief left his lungs and then when she clicked the lock, he smiled. She might be mad at him but she didn't leave.
