A/N: So I picked up some new readers and I have to give a shout out to BeckieT108 whose reviews enticed me to reread some of my chapters and realize that my newest chapters dropped a crucial part of the plot. And, I was able to go in and fix the unposted chapters so I (hopefully) won't have unfulfilled readers. See how important reviews are to the writers. :) Even if I don't respond to you, I read and cherish each review.
As always, I am grateful for my beta, MarinaNamaste. She truly makes my writing better. She helps me be descriptive where I normally wouldn't think of it. I hope writer has a beta like Marina. You should read her stories, especially if you like hot lemons. :)
With that being said, here's the next chapter:
Riding on that motorcycle with Bella's arm wrapped around my waist was probably the best feeling I've had other than just all out running in wolf form. I let myself forget about all the anger and everything negative for just a few minutes while we rode down the emerald domed highway to La Push.
She pressed herself into my back the inside of her thighs shaped softly around my legs as her hands massaged my stomach. I think she was appreciating my physique. Not that I minded. I'd pushed her away all week. I was dying to touch her—or have her touch me.
That short ride was the happiest I'd been in almost a week. In that moment I didn't care why Bella was with me, because she was actually with me. She'd chosen me over Edward—again. And she'd done it in front of the entire student body of Forks High School. It didn't matter how angry she was with me, I would have followed her walking for two hours until she calmed down. She'd chosen me.
I wanted to take her to La Push and show her how much she meant to me. And from the way she was pressed into my back and massaging my abs, she wanted to show me, too.
It all came to a screeching end though, when I rounded a bend and found three vampires standing in the middle of the road. I tapped Bella's hands to look up and I slowed the motorcycle and brought her to a stop. I felt Bella peek out from behind me. She hopped off, handed me her helmet while I stood the bike on its kickstand.
"Emmett!" she squealed. She ran towards him, tripped over something—probably nothing—and he caught her. The vamp was huge but, for some reason, I wasn't worried. Emmett hugged her close, swinging her in a few circles before setting her back down again, taking care she was balanced before he let her go. The wolf though, he was ready to explode.
"Careful there, Grace. We don't need you opening a vein again in front of Jasper," he chuckled. As I slowly walked forward, I watched Bella take a step away from the shorter guy. I remembered that name from her stories. He was the one who tried to eat her at her birthday party. I reached her and wrapped my arm around her waist. She leaned into me. Good. That made the nervous wolf happy.
Bella's lip was between her teeth.
"Emmett, you have no couth," the blonde chick said, slapping his chest. She must be Rosalie. Rosalie didn't like Bella, from what I remembered.
"What? It's true," Emmett guffawed.
Jasper rolled his eyes and looked at Bella. "Bella, I never had a chance to apologize for our last meeting. I am so sorry I lost control like that. But I assure you that I am well fed, and I will not repeat my very, uncivilized behavior ever again," he said offering her his hand.
I couldn't repress the growl that crawled up and out of my throat. The little blood sucker's eyes flicked up to mine. My wolf was clawing to phase and I was beating him back. It was almost painful to control the tremors, but I was doing a good job.
"I'm so sorry, Jacob. I should know better," he said and raised both hands in a placating manner as he took a step back. He lowered his eyes in submissive deference. The wolf recognized Jasper's submission, but did not dismiss him as a threat. A tremor shook in the hand that was wrapped around Bella's waist. Bella twisted to look back at me and I saw her eyes pan mine. Recognition of the wolf flashed across her face and she reached up with that little, cool hand of hers and touched my cheek.
"It's okay, Jake. He won't hurt me. And even if he tried, I know you'd take care of me." That slight touch and simple words soothed the antsy wolf. He'd been very near the surface and her confidence in me relaxed him a little bit.
"We just want to talk," Rosalie said. "Honestly. We don't like what Edward and Alice are up to, and we wanted to warn you to help you plan." The wolf was intrigued. He needed me to communicate, so he settled right in. Both of us looked down to Bella, though. Her mouth was hanging open in surprise.
"But," Bella stammered, "you don't like me. Why would want to help me?" she asked. It was a valid question. I wanted to know the answer. I looked at Rosalie.
"No," Rosalie disagreed, "I didn't like the old Bella. The doormat Bella who did everything that Edward said because she was scared to lose him annoyed the shit out of me. This Bella," she gestured towards the girl still in my arms, "that caused Alice to call us in panic to stop you at the treaty line just now because you'd told Edward where to stick it and was headed off to do what she wanted? Yeah, that Bella I like a great deal." Emmet guffawed behind her.
I liked Blondie. And Emmett was a protector, not a threat. This Jasper though? He was the one who messed with feelings. I didn't know about him.
"Aren't you attached to the little psycho, er, psychic leech?" I asked pointed to Jasper. "Why would you want to warn Bella? Aren't your blood sucker bonds, like, uber strong or something?"
"Well, yes they are," Jasper said, his southern drawl rolling out. "But I don't quite agree with what they've concocted, either. And seeing as it was my fault we scurried away so fast leaving such a huge mess, my mind is about cleanin' up what is ours and lettin' everything else develop as it should."
"What does that even mean?" Bella asked, shaking her head, frustrated. She'd told me that she was tired of everyone talking around issues. "Just say what you mean, please!"
"See?" Rosalie said looking back to her mate. "I like her so much. Unfortunately, the Bella I like can't be part of our family—because Edward can't control that Bella. Which is what I like. Such a shame," her freaky vampire smile was wide. I still didn't trust it—them; it was just too, convenient. She must of have sensed my hesitation because she looked up at me and tilted her head to the side. "You have nothing to fear from me. I want Bella with you. I want to kill the red head and whoever is building a newborn army, and I want my Emmett to fight all those newborns so he can burn off some energy and be happy." That last part was in a baby voice and she reached up and stroked his cheek. My mind caught on the hook the same time my wolf caught the information.
"Newborn army?" I asked, my voice was deep and gravely. "What the fuck is that?" I ignored Bella's constant tutting at my language, but the wolf wanted to placate her. Remus would have to worry about that later.
"My turn," Emmett called. "So, the night Alice came back she noticed a scent at your house that was unfamiliar."
"What?" I growled. "Why didn't I noticed that?"
"Easy, Fido," Emmett said, "I've been wondering the same thing. You guys are smart and fast and I've been watching how you guys move and work. So, I was confused when she finally offered up the piece of information to the rest of us—well other than to Edward. Alice said the scent was faint, like it'd been masked somehow. Maybe her scent covered the other I don't know." I didn't like that explanation. A scent is scent. I was rather distracted that night. That was night Bella finally kissed me. "But more on that later. There is so much more to tell you."
"My turn," Jasper said. "I don't know if you follow the Seattle news but there have been a lot of disappearances. We tracked a scent, different from the one Alice picked up that night, almost all the way to Seattle. We lost it when whoever got on the subway. But as we were poking around we detected several other vampire scents, but none of them familiar and all relatively new."
"How do you know they're new?" Bella asked. Good Question, Bells.
"They smell more, ah, human. Their cells contain remnants of the human blood, but that also makes them very strong and very lethal. They're consumed with blood lust and they are very difficult to control," Jasper explained.
Another growl escaped my throat at the thought that Bella had once been ready to volunteer to do that to herself. Again she twisted and reached up and touched my face. The touch calmed the wolf. She projected love and trust and it's what he needed. I saw Jasper watching that.
"Can't you manipulate feelings?" I asked, remembering what his gift was. "How do we know you're not doing that now?"
"That's a fair question, Lupin," Emmett laughed. "I told you he was smart," he said looking at Rosalie. "They all are. Edward really underestimates these guys." I cocked my head to the side. I found that very interesting.
"Bella has always known when I was messing with her emotions. It's abrupt and sudden. I've worked on subtlety, but I'm still not very good and Bella is very sensitive to my power."
"Really?" Bella asked. She looked kind of pleased with herself.
"Yes. Think about it. That last day I saw you, on your birthday, if you'll remember," Jasper prompted. "When you found out about Alice's party you freaked and I used my most subtle attack to calm you and made you like the idea." She nodded, remembering. Jasper's gaze became infinitesimally more concentrated and he raised his eyebrow.
"Stop it," Bella said, jerking her head in his direction. She shook in my arms a bit.
"See," Jasper smiled. "You always know.
"So I'm not immune to your power, but I can feel it," Bella thought aloud. She pulled away from me to pace. Wolfy didn't like that, but I ignored him. She was okay. We're all okay, I told him. "But I'm totally immune to Edward's mind reading," Bella continued on. "Why is that? Why am I completely immune from Edward?" Neither Bella nor I missed the look Rosalie flashed at Jasper.
"No, Bella, you're not immune to him," Rosalie said. "He never told you about his thrall. Jasper's power isn't subtle, but it's quick—immediate even. Edward has a way of bending people's will. He uses eye contact and his ability to read people's minds to adjust his use of it. I remember you saying once that he 'dazzles' people. That's what he's doing."
"Why didn't anyone tell me about this?" Bella asked, stopping her pacing and looking at Rosalie.
"Because every time the subject came up, it changed Alice's vision of you and Edward living happily ever after and we were banned from doing so," Rosalie finished with disgust.
"So, you really didn't hate me," Bella said. "You just hated what was going to happen to me." It was a statement. Bella had formed a conclusion. She walked right up to Rosalie and threw her arms around her. The wolf jumped at the sight, but seeing her so relieved mollified him. She was grateful to Rosalie.
"Well," Rosalie said a little alarmed, "I didn't, ah, expect this." But her arms came up and tentatively wrapped around Bella and she returned the hug.
"You were the only one on my side," Bella said. "Thank you so much!"
"Hey! I was on your side, Grace," Emmett boomed. "You could have been happy with Edward under the thrall. Mating would have sealed the bond and you would never have known the difference. Besides, I would have loved having you around. But Rose thought that you should have all the information. And now I see she was totally right," he looked over at her, "as usual. I like this snarky, shit-dealing Bella even more." Emmett's grin shone with sincerity.
"And," Jasper added, "I've come to understand that Alice's visions are more subjective than we'd originally thought. Especially with Edward's thrall. I hadn't realize, until he used it consistently with you, how much Edward and Alice controlled the future, instead of just manipulating possibilities. I love Alice, but I don't love her messin' with your free will. It ain't right," Jasper said.
"So this army?" I asked bring them back to the more urgent stuff. The wolf was getting antsy wanting to know about the threat to the tribe and Bella.
"We're only guessin' there is one, and we don't know who's buildin' it. We scented old traces of Victoria there, but her stronger scents are around Port Angeles and the hiker killing sites," Jasper said. Bella, who was back to pacing, stopped all of a sudden.
"It's for me," Bella said, realization dawning in her voice. She stepped forward and touched my face again as she looked into my eyes. "They're after me. I've been missing some clothes since that night Alice came back. I kept forgetting to mention it. That was the night Charlie slept in my rocking chair after finding out about the pack. When I asked him where he put my clothes from the chair, he said it was empty." Fear and certainty both flowed from her hand on my cheek. She pulled away to begin pacing again. Wolfy and I noticed she did this when she was working something out.
"What if that strange scent Alice picked up was a new vamp picking up my scent for the newborns in Seattle. Victoria knows she can't get past the wolves. If she could, she would have by now. She's building an army to kill all the wolves." Bella turned and looked at me with fear in her eyes. "I can't lose you."
The wolf wanted out. I came so close to phasing, it took every ounce of self-control to keep him at bay. But we couldn't say comforting things to her if we phased. I reached out to her and hugged her tight. That seemed to both calm the wolf and Bella. I picked her up so her legs wrapped around my waist and gently rocked her like a parent would comfort a toddler. I was soothing my girlfriend and half of myself at the same time.
"So how are you going to keep this from Edward? He can read all your minds, right? And how can Alice not see this vision. And how do we know they're not too far away and listening in?" I asked while still rocking my Bella. Her fingers were wrapped in my hair and my hands gently rubbed up and down her back. I ignored the concerned looks on the vamps' faces and pressed on.
"I've been practicing for years," Rosalie said waving her hand and dismissing that concern. "When I don't want him to know what I'm thinking, I concentrate on how beautiful I am and how to make myself prettier. He usually tunes me out, then. I don't think he's listened to me in decades. When he was dating Bella, I used to just think nasty things about her and he'd go tattle to Carlisle like a little kid and Carlisle would tell him to just ignore me." Emmett sniggered at that, but Rose went on. "He really doesn't think I'm capable of intelligent thought. My perceived vanity has turned into a strength for me. And Emmett's the same. All Em thinks about when Eddy's home—that's what he calls Edward his head and it irritates the hell out of him—is sports and fighting. It's been effective for half a century," Rosalie beamed.
"Hell yeah!" Emmett added. "If I really want to bug him, I replay my favorite, recent, sexy fun time with Rose and he tunes me right on out."
"Mine will be a little more difficult because I've never hidden my thoughts from Edward, except when Alice has told me to," Jasper explained. "But I'm constantly running scenarios in my head and lately it's all about Seattle and Victoria and how to use you and the wolves. I'll just keep thinking about those things. He's been gone from the house quite a bit lately tracking you. So it hasn't been that hard. And Alice always tells me when he's returning home."
"And Alice called us from the school and told us to talk to you about a possible alliance to fight off this newborn army. Because it's a meeting with you, Jacob," Emmett said, "she can't see what we talk about what the outcome will be. It really frustrates her."
"But," Rosalie continued, "Edward and Alice think an alliance will get Bella hanging around Edward enough that he can use the thrall and win her back in the end. We," she pointed to the three off them in the road, "don't want that."
"Not like that, anyway," Emmett added and Jasper nodded. "We'd love to have you as a sister, but we want you to choose it—not be compelled into it."
Bella, whose face was still in the crook of my neck, was listening and one of her palms rested in my neck. She was calm again. I was more certain of her love for me than I had ever been.
"Jake, let me down, please. I'm better," she finally said. I let her down and she stood strong and stable. The wolf was pleased. Pleased, but still suspicious of the leeches and their intentions. We may block the little one's visions, but that didn't mean she couldn't see Bella with them years from now.
"And this isn't some convoluted Inception like plan within a plan within a plan to help Edward steal Bella away from me?" I asked, not able to ever actually fully trust a leech.
"Jake, Rose never wanted me to transform. Ever," Bella said. "And Rose is as stubborn as they come. There is no scenario where Rose gets what she wants by doing what she's doing. And Rose does not do Edward's bidding, quietly or willingly." Bella smiled at her.
"You know me so well," she said. "This Bella I like. But this Bella could never be Edward's submissive wife." That was when the wolf trusted Rosalie. But he had an idea.
"Jasper, try to make me feel something," I said. I wanted to know if I could feel it. If the wolf could tell.
"Like what?" he said. Shit, I didn't know. Wait, yes I did.
"Try to make me feel like an alliance with your family is the right thing to do. Force me to trust you," I urged.
"Alrighty," Jasper said. He looked at me for a moment and I could feel it. I absolutely knew that Jasper was trustworthy. My mind even started developing reasons why we should heed everything he'd said.
But not the wolf, he was angry. The pressure of the feeling being generated from outside of my mind or heart was infuriating him.
A familiar shiver rippled up my spine and it was impossible to suppress it. Bella noticed and stepped away, turning fully to watch me phase. When the wolf was out, his temper eased. He felt comfortable in this form. The haze from the anger cleared and he listened to my mental reason. Bella sidled up to me and scratched behind my ears. I growled in appreciation.
"Well," Bella said, "Now we know what that does. We won't know how it affected Jake until he phases back. Jake's gonna have to go talk to the Alpha now, since he probably won't phase back for a while. When they phase out of anger, it takes a while to calm them down."
Why was Bella giving them false information? That was, um, odd. And she was pretty convincing. Of course, she did say 'they' and not 'Jake'. It was rather true for most of the pack. I, however, could phase at will and I could phase back now if I wanted to, even though the wolf wouldn't like it. Her hand stroked under my chin and I was sure she was telling me to trust her.
"He'll have Sam call you about an alliance," she said. Damn, she was smart. "Thank you, Rose, for everything you shared."
"What the hell is that?" Sam butted into my thoughts.
"Hold up and let her finish," I pressed back.
"Jasper, it was good to see you again and I'm glad we got to talk. The air is finally clear between us." She stepped forward and shook his hand. I growled at the gesture but I didn't verbalize the reason. If we were going to work with them, the pack would not abide Jasper if they knew he tried to attack Bella once. "And Emmett, as always, it's been a pleasure. If you weren't already taken…" she grinned at him and he guffawed again. My wolf yipped with amusement. Emmett was no threat to us. At all.
"What the fuck?" Paul asked.
"Just watch," I let part of my mind play back what had happened while I watched the rest of the scene in front of me.
"Bella, do you need a ride somewhere?" Rose asked. "I mean, how are you going to get—?" Rose moved her hands indicating motion and getting somewhere. Bella smiled at her.
"I have two choices," Bella giggled. "I can ride Jake or," my brothers howled with laughter in my ears, "I can ride the motorcycle."
"What?" Emmett laughed and Paul verbalized at the same time.
"Would you let her ride you?" Sam and Paul asked simultaneously, but Sam's tone was disgusted and Paul's was lascivious.
"Yes, you fuckers, I would. In both ways you're thinking, but she won't choose that," I thought back, hoping I was wrong in Paul's instance.
"You know how to ride that?" Jasper said sounding impressed.
"Hell yeah," Bella said, walking towards the bike. It was the one I'd rebuilt for her. "What do you think I did while you guys were gone? Go into a comatose states waiting for you to return?"
"She's snarky," Sam said, amused.
"If she climbs on that bike, I think I'm gonna cum," Paul said his mind picturing just what that might look like in wolf form. "Have any of you fuckers done that with fur yet? I bet there's a lot." I internally shook off that mental picture and projected disgust back at him.
All three wolves and all three vampires watched as Bella fastened her helmet under her chin, lifted her leg over the seat and jumpstarted the bike.
"Tell Edward and Alice that I followed my phased boyfriend down to First Beach and use the rest to your advantage," Bella suggested. And she'd told me where to meet her. "I'm sure Sam is watching right now and he'll call you when they've decided something."
Still, we watched as she revved the engine, popped the clutch and sped off down the highway.
"Shit!" Paul moaned.
A/N: Paul is so much fun to write. He's my favorite character as a writer.
Leave me some love.