"Bella we will do everything in our power to make you safe again." Sam spoke up, looking me straight in the eyes.
"She will never touch you again, Bella." Edward said, his eyes blazing. "You will never be alone. There will always be someone here for you."
Tears filled my eyes. "You'll leave me. You don't want to spoil your lives protecting mine! I'm not worth it!"
"Bella!" Jared yelled in rage. "You are part of this pack! We will never leave you alone." His eyes were so brave; I looked to the group of vampires.
I whimpered to them, "I'm nothing to you now. Without Edward there to call me part of the family I'm just another human. I'm not one of you and I can't be now."
"Bella." Emmett spoke up. "You will always be part of this family whether you are Edward's mate or not. We protect our family."
"Jacob." I asked in a small voice. "I know I'm only trouble for you. If not now I will be. I don't want any of them to risk their lives for me, but I won't let you! Someday you will find someone better. I'm sure of it. Don't throw away you're life for me!"
Jacob looked furious. His eyes smoldered me. He spoke with passion, tears rolling off his cheeks.
"My life would be nothing without you! Here is one thing you can be sure of, Bella. I will never leave you. I will always love you no matter what happens to me or to you. There is nothing I wouldn't do for you. How can I find someone better? There is none!"
Big tears brimmed over my eyes and flooded my face. I leaned into Jacob and kissed him, the monitor going crazy. My fingers tangled into his dark hair and I let myself go. I pulled him close to me, my tears falling in both of our mouths. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't stop crying. I wasn't sure if it was because I was happy or scared.
I let go of his head and wrapped my arms around him in a crushing hug, our lips still together. I was so terrified. I was so blissful. I didn't deserve such a perfect boy. My stomach was uneasy now that Jasper had withdrawn his gift in embarrassment. Not one pair of eyes was on me and I was glad about that. It was hard to get privacy when you're family is this big.
The kiss only lasted several more seconds before my heart stopped and Jacob leaped away from me, I dizzily lifted my head. Slowly my pulse found itself again. I smiled so wide it hurt, my eyebrows still pulled up in fear. The mixed emotion was terrible but there wasn't much I could do. I slowly felt all eyes return to me, all except one.
"Edward?" Alice asked quietly, "Do you want to leave?" He shook his head no; there was an expression that was so unbearable on his face. I felt so bad for him. I tuned away, embarrassed.
I sat up out of bed thanking my werewolf nature for healing me so quickly. Both Carlisle and Jacob looked about to protest. I stretched my sore muscles, Jacob staring worriedly as he heard my neck crack loudly. I took a few steps to Jacob, hugging him softly. "I trust you." I whispered into his chest. "I trust you to do the right thing even if you have to go away for a little bit."
"So," I spoke to everyone in the room, "can I hear exactly what happened now?" I didn't say it loudly or excitedly, I didn't want to hear but I needed to know.
Jacob started, "Well you know what happened between that leach and me, how she threatened me with your life to weaken you. You know that the second everyone was out of the house she was there for you, and that that will never happen again. You will never be alone again Bella. If you want to be alone we'll only be one call away. She took you to a small clearing and tried to destroy you." He shuddered, unable to speak about what she did.
Embry continued for him. "She broke four ribs, an arm and a leg, and you had serious nerve damage and blood loss
"Then she bit you." Alice said flatly. "No one was sure what was going to happen at that point. What seemed to have happened is that you experienced the pain of the transformation but not the physical change. The fact that you're a werewolf prevented that from happening."
"We showed up about then and tried to take care of Victoria. With her strange skills of evasion she somehow managed to give us the illusion that we had defeated her but she got away anyway." Jasper announced.
Paul chuckled. "Jake wouldn't even let those vamps touch you! He called all of us in to carry you back to our house because, as we all know, the hospital is really off limits to a werewolf. Jacob finally had to surrender when doc here offered to fix you up. No one could really refuse his help. It took Jacob forever to phase back to human he was so stressed. Of course, it wasn't cakewalk for the rest of the pack either."
"Why didn't you phase?" Sam asked, a little angry. "I've seen you go at it, Bella, and you could have taken that bloodsucker easily!"
I looked around the room, my face flushing. "I knew that if Victoria just got what she wanted than she would leave the rest of you alone. I didn't want any of you to get hurt trying to protect me." I spoke about the whole pack, but everyone could see by the way that I looked at my Jacob that I was mostly trying to save him. But who could blame me?
I was so tired all of a sudden. "What," I yawned loudly, "is going to happen to the rest of you?" I sagged into Jake a little bit, limply gesturing to the Cullens. "We're not sure yet." Rosalie replied stiffly. "We might move back in, we might not. But we are definitely going to stick around until Victoria is stopped."
"Jake." I whispered into his shirt. "I'm scared."
He squeezed me tight, kissing my hair. "We'll make her go away Bella. She's not going to bother you anymore." Jacob lifted me off my feet and laid me back on his bed. "Where are you going to sleep?" I asked worriedly, my eyes drooping down even further at contact of the bed.
"Couch." He replied quietly, motioning the Cullens and the rest of the pack out of the room, "I can handle her." He said to them.
"I've slept on the couch, Jake, it's not comfortable. You sleep on your bed. I'll go there. I've been sleeping for…how long?"
Jake chuckled, "Four days, but you're staying right on that bed. I think I can handle the couch until you get better."
"Where will I sleep then? Will I have to go back home?" I worried.
He shrugged. "We'll figure it out later. Its actually really late Bella and none of us have slept since you were brought back here. Not me, none of the pack, not the Cullen's, obviously, we're all tired. I bet you are too."
"What time is it?" I asked.
"4:34 a.m." He yawned back. That night so long ago…that's what time I went to see Jacob. Fear captured me again. Jacob could hear the annoying monitor pick up speed.
"What's wrong?" He asked anxiously.
"Jake, you'll never leave me again right?" I asked, the power of the memory burning in my mind.
"Of course not, Bella! Why would you be thinking about that? I will love you forever and ever. Now go to sleep."
He began to walk away to the couch on the other side of the room. This time I tried as hard as I could not to get uneasy but my heart rate took off anyway.
"Bella, are you sure you're ok?" Jacob asked coming back over to me.
I shook my head. "Don't leave me Jacob!" my voice was quiet but fierce. He nodded and smiled to himself walking back over to the couch. I heard the sound of wood scraping wood and when I looked to my side the couch was sitting next to the bed. "I'll never ever leave you Bella." He vowed, and with Jake sleeping right next to me I seemed to fall straight to sleep.