Chapter 7

After Paul left, I was pretty much bored out of my mind. I tried to busy myself with the washing up- which wasn't much. I was going to do the laundry but, when I looked at the state of my room, I decided against it. Personally, it looked like a hurricane had gone through the middle of it.

The next days weren't too bad, though. I went to Emily's house for a sleepover and met Kim, Jared's Imprint. She was a lovely girl, a little shy, and very beautiful. I could see why Jared had imprinted on her. And Quil had shifted so the boys spent as much time as they could with him to try and help him control his anger.

The real drama didn't start until a couple of days after that when I went into my bedroom to get the laundry over and done with. I knew the laundry was building up, so after I out my toothpaste away and threw my dirty clothes in the hamper, I went o strip Charlie's bed. I left his sheets in a pile at the top of the stairs and went to get mine.

I paused beside the bed, cocking my head to the side.

Where was my pillow? I turned in a circle, scanning the room. No pillow. I noticed my room looked oddly tidy. Hadn't my gray sweatshirt been draped over the low bedpost on the footboard? And I would swear there had been a pair of dirty socks behind the rocking chair, along with the red blouse I had tried on two mornings ago, but decided was too dressy for school, hanging over the arm...

Was Charlie doing laundry? That was out of character.

"Dad, did you start the wash?" I shouted out my door.

"Um, no" he shouted back, sounding guilty. "Did you want me to?"

"No, I got it. Were you looking for something in my room?"

"No. Why?"

"I can't find...a shirt..."

"I haven't been in there."

This was odd; very odd. Could it have been someone from the pack who had come to check if Charlie was okay while I was away? It was, it looked like they had cleaned while they were passing through. I blushed for my slovenly way, and then remembered that I would have known if one of them had been in my room. So who the hell had been in here?

I ripped my sheets off and headed for the laundry closet, grabbing Charlie's on the way, and trying desperately not to panic.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Charlie yelled.

"Not yet."

I went back upstairs and shut my door before grabbing my phone. I scrolled down until I found Paul's bane and pressed the call button. He picked up on the first ring.

"Hey Bella, what's up?" he asked cheerfully.

"Okay, I'm probably being paranoid but I think someone's been in my house and taken some f my stuff" I whispered, panic and fear weaving in and out of my voice. "Stuff with my scent on it."

"On my way."

After he hung up, I spent a couple of minutes taking deep breaths, trying to calm myself down, before heading downstairs.

"Billy called, asked if I wanted to come fishing. You don't mind, do you?" Charlie called from the front door. Gotta love Billy.

"Of course not" I called back. I was relieved. I didn't want Charlie in the middle of this.

Just a few seconds after Charlie had left, the doorbell rang, signalling Paul's arrival.

"Come in, Paul!" I shouted as loud as I dared.

"Are you okay" Paul said urgently, rushing into the room along with Sam.

"Physically" I said, shaking slightly "fine."

"Alright, Paul, you stay here with Bella and I'll go and investigate" Sam said, his voice impossible calm. "Bella, where is the intruder's scent the worst?"

"I don't know" I admitted. I felt a bit better now with Paul at my side. "I guess it would be my bedroom, I think. That is where all my stuff has gone missing."

Paul and Sam's eyes narrowed identically. They didn't like that one bit.

"I'll just be a minute." And, with that, Sam disappeared upstairs.

Paul sat me down at the table and wrapped a protective arm around my waist, pulling me close to him. We just sat there, in a comfortable silence, waiting for Sam to come down stairs again.

"Well" said Sam as he came back into the room with his nose wrinkled in disgust "the scent was easy enough to catch. It reeks!"

"I'll buy some air freshener" I muttered, staring at a crack in my wall.

"Come on" Paul said, pulling me up. "We need to go to Sam and Emily's house so we can figure this out."

I nodded mechanically. "How are we getting there?"

"We're gonna have to run" said Sam apologetically. "You'll ride on Paul."

"Okay" I said.

When we got outside, the boys went behind a bush and, when they came back, they were wolves.

"You're huge" I muttered to Paul as he knelt down for me to get on. He barked out a laugh and I rolled my eyes.

I clambered onto his back and he ran. The speed was exhilarating, much better than it was with Edward. It was like I could fully trust Paul not to run into trees and killing me, not like Edward.

When we got there, the pack was already there, ready and waiting. We entered to see Emily leaning against the counter, Jared, with Kim sitting on his lap, on wooden chairs and Jacob was sitting on an armchair that was tucked up in the corner. Paul pulled me to the sofa and I sat next to him. Emily walked towards us, sitting down next to me and putting her arm around me. Paul held one of my hands tightly in both of his. Sam moved over in front of us, leaning against the wall. The only two people who were missing were Quil and Embry who, I assumed, were trying to track the scent.

"Okay" he said "let's look at this logically. What are the possibilities?"

"Victoria?" Embry suggested.

Sam shook his head. "It wasn't a scent I recognized."

"It doesn't make sense" Emily said. "If whoever it was meant to wait for Bella, you guys would know about it. He- or she- had no intention of hurting Bella. Or Charlie, for that matter."

I cringed at my father's name.

"It's going to be fine, Bell" Emily murmured, smoothing my hair.

"But was the point then?" Kim asked, looking frightened, even with her lover's arms wrapped around her.

"Checking to see if I'm still human, maybe" I said.

"What?" asked Jared.

"When I was with Edie..." I didn't call him by his real name, he didn't deserve that "...I was to become a vampire because no human is suppose to know about vampires. So they were going to change me at graduation."

Every in the room but me winced.

"Possibly" Sam admitted.

Suddenly, Embry burst through the front door, Quil right behind him, making me jump. Paul rubbed soothing circles on my hand.

"Ling gone, hours ago" Quil announced, sounding disappointed. "The trail went East, then South, and disappeared on a side road. Had a car waiting."

"That was bad luck" Jared muttered. "I wouldn't mind giving the leech a piece of my mind."

I winced, and Emily rubbed my shoulder.

"Perhaps we're looking at this the wrong way. Maybe it's a coincidence..." Kim began quietly, but stopped when she saw everyone else's incredulous expressions. "I don't mean a coincidence that a stranger happened to pick Bella's house to visit at random. I mean that maybe someone was just curious. Your scent is all around her. Was he wondering what draws you there? Or maybe wondering what the smell was?"

"Why wouldn't he just come here then? If he was curious?" Paul demanded.

"You would" Emily said with a sudden, fond smile. "The others aren't always so direct. There are a great number of you- he or she might be frightened. But Charlie wasn't harmed. This doesn't ahve to be an enemy."

"Just curious" I breathed, so low that not even Paul heard me. "Like James and Victoria had been curious, in the beginning?"

I shrugged out of Emily's arms and walked towards the window, staring out, but not really seeing anything.

"We'll extend our perimeter" Sam said. "And we can split up evenly now that Quil has joined, so we can..."

"No" I said, cutting him off and spinning around. The thought of the wolves putting themselves at risk because of me made me feel sick. "I can't put you guys at risk because of me. I'm leaving."

"No!" said Paul, jumping up with a pained expression on his face.

"Think of Charlie, Bella" Sam reasoned. "Think of him if you disappeared."

"I am thinking of Charlie as well! He's the one I'm worried about along with you guys. What if my little guest had happened to be thirsty last night? What if Victoria suddenly decides she's had enough and fights you guys? As long as I'm around, everyone's a target. If anything happened to him, or you guys, it would be my entire fault!"

"Bella, think about this for a second, please" Embry pleaded.

"I don't have a second. The more time I spend in Forks, the more you are all in danger" I said.

"Bella..." Jacob started but I ignored him and raced out the door. I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't put more and more people in danger. I just couldn't.

It hurt to leave Paul behind, more than anything, but I was doing to protect him. I wouldn't let him get hurt because of me. Yeah, I was in love with him. Oh, why did it take me so long to realise that?

AN: I'm so sorry. I lost my list of everyone I had to thank. So the list is gunna be longer. Sorry if I didn't thank you in my last chapter:

Thank you to:

Natashar, nlwwithemmetcullen, HairInHerEyes, SookieRocks, Genuinef250, eskimogirl58, FeMcB, Naomi Black x, Kiagirl06, Nrianna Mae, Jbislou1234 and Kathy Jiester

Thank you to:

Jacob Black rulez, Paulsbaby, RayRay18, Piffy006, seasshell25, silver1996, hotstuff142, Luna Clearwater and Narley410 for putting my story on your favourite story list

And for those who reviewed:

Jacob Black rulez: Thanks you

Natashar: Neither can I

Tokidokiluver: Don't worry, I won't. I'm not a fan of those stories either.

LovelyHJ: Thank you. Lol, it made me laugh when I saw that. I don't mind if anyone criticise this story because it means I'll get an extra review :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Shamelessly Obsessed: He was only a little cold cuz I wanted him to try and give Bella some space so she had room to make her choice.

Hotstuff142: Lol, I won't. Or this wouldn't be much of a Paul/Bella story, now, would it?

Naomi Black x: Updating as fast as humanly possible.

MigratingCoconuts06: Neither can I. I've been having a really fun time writing this story.

FredsForeverFanGirl: Won't do.

Mizzcatherine113: I know. I was so wrapped up in the story that I completely forgot. Please forgive me.

Fallunder: I'm glad you enjoyed it

Narley410: I know *squeals*

And thank you to all of those out there who are reading this story.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year

~Poison Ivey