From Hell to Heaven
Beta/Proof Reader/Advisor: Maria Vilson
Chapter 10
Charlie stood and watched as the pack backed out of the house. He was still steaming after hearing her tell Phil that she loved him. Charlie banged his fist against the wall in anger.
He knew it was wrong to feel this way, and he had even laid awake half the night feeling bad for the way he had treated his daughter the night before. Charlie laid his forehead against the wall hard, trying to gain some kind of composure.
"Damn it!" he cursed, hating the feeling that pulsed through his body.
He wondered where all this anger was coming from. Sure he was jealous, but to talk and do the things he did was uncalled for, he knew this. He felt as if someone else was controlling his feelings, someone other than him, especially when Phil's name was brought up. He had no control over his emotions at all.
Things would just spurt out of his mouth, things he didn't mean to say, things he wouldn't have ever said to anyone. He didn't want to hurt Bella, that's the last thing he'd ever want to do, but he just couldn't stop himself, and it was getting worse. He had no control any more, even feeling sorry for what he was putting his daughter through; the hatred would still poor from his mouth.
Charlie was at his wits end. He knew something was wrong, but had no idea what to do. So he did the one thing he thought was best…He went to talk to his best friend and the Chief of the tribe Billy Black. Hopefully he'd have some clue what to do.
xXx
Sam stood looking at the truck that had just driven away. He couldn't believe what had just happened. He was still in a daze after capturing Isabella's eyes with his own. It was completely unbelievable.
After all he had been through with Embry imprinting on Leah; he was still working on getting over that, and now…now it had happened to him, and on Old Quil's great-granddaughter to boot. The girl was a mess and he was sure she wasn't going to handle this easily.
Oh man…what, was he going to do now? he thought running his hands through his hair letting out a long sigh. Jake put his hand on Sam's shoulder causing Sam to jump. "Shit," Sam cursed looking over his shoulder at Jake as Jake looked at him in surprise.
"You okay man?" Jake asked not believing he surprised Sam. It was unusual for one of the wolves to be surprised with someone coming up from behind them with their extra sense of preservation; and, it was more surprising that it was Sam who was surprised. He was the Alpha of the pack after all, and it shocked Jake and made him wonder if something was wrong.
"Yeah, I'm fine just…" he sighed, "never mind, let's get to Old Quil's," Sam said shaking his head as they all ran into the woods, dropped their shorts, tied them to their leg line and phased to run to the Elders house.
"What the hell is up with Charlie, Sam? I mean, yeah, he can be a hard arse some times, but this was kind of out there for him, don't ya think?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, hell if I know, it's got me a little worried though, did you see his eyes? I've never seen him look so furious," Sam asked worriedly.
"Yeah, we all saw his eyes, they looked like he was possessed or something. I've never seen Charlie that mad before, or act that way before if the truth be known," Jake replied.
"I haven't either, and that's how he's been acting since Bella's arrival. I have to admit it kind of freaks me out as well. Do ya think we should worry about Mom?" Seth asked. It was quiet for a second or two before Sam answered.
"Seth, maybe you should hang around the house a little more in the evenings to make sure nothing happens. The guys are right, Charlie's acting a little more weird than normal," Sam told him.
"Sure thing Sam," Seth said as they continued on to Old Quil's house.
xXx
After arriving at the Ateara's, Bella found herself sitting on the sofa with both Quils sitting on each side of her. She glanced around the room at the others that filled the house and lined every corner.
She figured they were the pack, and she knew they were at her father's house before, but she was rather preoccupied at the time to even notice who they were. Oh, she knew they were there, who wouldn't. They all towered over her, but her mind didn't click to who they were at the time.
She eyed each of them and couldn't believe how big they were, for they were huge. The beauty of their sun kissed skin, the muscles rippling over their chests, arms and backs were breathtaking.
Each one with their own particular beauty, and own personalities, that Bella took in as she listened to the banter that they all threw back and forth from one another followed with their laughter. She could tell that they had a special bond, one she would love to have with them. She was in awe of these men who sat among her.
Especially the one she knew now to be Sam, who sat across from her, and couldn't take his eyes off of her. Bella would look over at him every now and then finding herself a little taken aback, as she too found it hard to keep her vision elsewhere.
She thought him to be the most beautiful of all of them; his eyes shimmered as he looked at her and caused her heart to melt with his attention, and his deep baritone voice sent shivers down her spine. She had never had someone pay so close attention to her.
Yeah, there were those who crept into her room after they were done with her mother before Phil moved in, but this was different, and although she felt kind of creeped out, she also kind of liked it.
Sam couldn't help himself; he just couldn't tear his eyes away from her. He didn't want this, but he couldn't stop himself either. He couldn't tell her, she had been through enough; if she even got an inkling of how he didn't want a woman in his life right now, he was sure she would take it as a rejection, and that's the last thing he wanted to do to her.
Sam didn't know what to do, he found her very pretty, beautiful in fact, but he was broken at the moment. How was he supposed to help Isabella, if he couldn't even help himself? Sam was at a standstill in his life, he didn't know if he was coming or going and he wouldn't put someone through what he was going through, when she was a mess herself.
It wasn't that he didn't want a relationship with her; it's that he didn't want it now, but he sure as hell couldn't tell her that. So for now he would keep it to himself.
He knew it would be hard to fight the imprint, because he could feel the pull to her, and he was pretty damn sure she could feel it too. He noticed the way she looked at him, and it was the same way he was looking at her.
But he had to fight it at least for a while until he could get his mind wrapped around everything that was happening at the moment.
What Sam didn't realize was that he and Bella needed each other. Between the two of them they could heal one another. But Sam wasn't thinking straight. With his loss of Leah, and all those wolves to look after, on top of the way Charlie was acting and now with protecting this beautiful woman he was sitting here staring at; Sam wasn't in his right mind just now.
Right now, Sam was praying with everything in him that the wolf gene didn't activate in Bella, especially now. He didn't think he could handle it knowing that she was his imprint and needed to learn how to keep control of her wolf. Sam was reeling right now.
xXx
Charlie parked the squad car and got out making his way to the little red house where his best friend lived. When he got to the door he pressed his fingers together and made a fist and then banged on the screen door. After a few seconds the inner door opened and there sat his best friend Billy in his wheelchair.
"Hey Charlie, what's up? It's not every day you show up on a work day. Is something wrong?" Billy asked as he wheeled away from the door and let Charlie follow him into the living room. Charlie walked past Billy and into the kitchen, opening up the refrigerator and pulling out two beers.
He walked back into the living room and sat on the sofa and popped the top on the first beer and turned it up and drained it in one go. When finished he put it on the coffee table and belched and looked over at Billy, who was sitting there wondering what in the hell was going on. It was ten thirty in the morning and Charlie is drinking already? Billy thought.
"Are you okay Charlie?" Billy asked again. Charlie tilted his head to the side a bit more to get a better look at Billy and sighed.
"I keep fucking up Billy, I've done it again. I gave Bella hell last night and when I realized what I had done I swore I was going to make it better… Hell, I've even got Sue mad at me, she made me sleep on the sofa, and Seth's ready to tear me to pieces," he said shaking his head while Billy sat quietly waiting for him to finish.
"This morning I got up and went into the kitchen and heard her out back on the porch talking to someone on her cell phone. When I went outside to try to apologize, she was just ending her call and I heard her tell Phil that she loved him and I saw red and I went off again," Charlie said shaking his head in disbelief, as he drug his fingers through his hair in irritation at himself.
"What the hell is wrong with me Billy, I don't even feel like myself any more. It's almost like someone is leading me around on a chain or something. After this morning she told me she was leaving because she couldn't take it anymore and I went off again, and about that time her great-granddad walks in and he tells me he's taking her to live with him. Once again I saw red, blasting off at the mouth. That's when the pack came in," he said.
"The pack?" Billy asked surprised.
"Yeah, the whole fucking pack, like it would take all of them to take me out or something. They were protecting her from me…her own father. She's gone Billy, my baby moved out she's living with Old Quil now, and I don't know what to do," he said as he twisted the top off the next bottle and sucked it down just as fast as the first.
"Well, to start off, you can stop drinking this early in the morning Charlie, that can't be good for you. And as far as the pack and Old Quil are concerned, I don't know what that was about, but you know as well as I do that Isabella has been through a lot. She was supposed to come here to get to know her family…you Charlie, as well as the Ateara's, on top of the fact that she could phase into one of the wolves any day," Billy said.
"I know that Billy, and was willing to try to get to know her. I was so happy she was coming home to me, but when she got here it was like I was instantly possessed or something, like someone flipped a switch and things started flowing out of my mouth that I didn't mean…I mean, I know Phil was her life saver while she was with Renée and I thank God for him every day for being there for my little girl, but something happened once I saw her and she began telling me about how Phil was going to help her money wise while she was here. I flipped out and have been doing so ever since. God! It's driving me nuts," Charlie explained, as he wiped his face with his hands and sniffed.
"Well, I can call Old Quil and talk to him about this…maybe he can come up with something, to explain what's going on with you, but until then you're going to have to try and keep control of your temper Charlie. You have to admit that you have a temper, and it's on a short fuse. If you continue to lose it in front of Bella you're going to lose her Charlie for good," Billy told him.
"Don't you think I know that old man, haven't you heard a damn word I've said, I can't control this for some reason! God! Why doesn't anyone listen!" he screamed and got to his feet.
"Charlie control yourself, I heard what you said, like I said I'll call Old Quil and talk to him about this," Billy tried to explain.
"Oh the hell with that old man, he took my daughter! Fuck him and fuck you!" Charlie said as he stormed out of the house.
"Where are you going? Charlie!" Billy yelled without hearing anything back from Charlie, but the wheels from his car throwing gravel as he spun out of the driveway.
Billy wheeled himself over to the phone and dialed Old Quil's number and waited for it to ring.
"Hello."
"Hey Quil is your great-granddad around?" Billy asked.
"Um…yeah, hold on a sec," young Quil said as he went to get his Pop.
xXx
Old Quil sat on the sofa next to Bella; he raised his hand and patted Bella on the knee to get her attention. Bella turned to look at her great-granddad.
"Isabella, I wanted you to meet the pack honey and that's why they're here today," he said. As he started the introductions the phone rang.
"I'll get it Pop," young Quil said.
"As I was saying, I talked to you on the internet and explained a few things to you about the pack so you would know what to expect when you got here, but I think we should start with the introductions first," Old Quil said as young Quil came back into the living room.
"Pop, I'm sorry to interrupt but Billy's on the phone and wants to speak with you, he sounds a little upset," he said, as Old Quil and Jake looked at young Quil with a worried expression.
"Is he alright Quil?" Jake asked obviously worried.
"I don't know Jake he just said he needed to talk to Pop," Quil said. Bella watched not knowing what was going on, she felt as though she was watching a tennis tournament bouncing her head back and forth between who she now knew was Jake and her cousin Quil.
"Maybe I should go home and check on him," Jake said looking at the door with worry.
"Maybe you should wait and see what Old Quil finds out before you run home to find out it's nothing," Sam offered. Jake looked at Sam and nodded his head.
"Yeah, I guess you're right, I'll wait for Old Quil to come back before I take off," Jake said. He looked over at Bella who looked confused with the discussion and smiled at her. "It's probably nothing to worry about," Jake continued. Bella looked at him and nodded.
"Is Billy your father?" Bella asked. Jake nodded.
"Yeah, he's also the Chief of the tribe," Jake said as Bella raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Really?" she said. Jake nodded once again.
"Yeah, he's got diabetes and he's in a wheelchair, so I kind of take care of him. I'm the only one left at home. My mom died when I was young and my sisters…well; one's away at college and the other lives in Hawaii with her husband their twins. So that kind of leaves just me at home to watch over him," he explained.
"I see, I'm sorry about your mother, and it must be hard taking care of your father. Um…I know a little bit about taking care of somebody and it isn't easy, so, I can relate to that," Bella told him. Jake nodded again.
"I was only eight years old when my mom died, and yeah, I miss her, but it was a long time ago, and yeah, it can be a little challenging at times with my dad, but Dad's great. I don't mind taking care of him when he needs it," Jake replied while nodding his head.
Bella gave him a smile, feeling a little jealous of Jake. She thought back to how she had to care for her grandmother and her mother all the time, not just when they needed it; and, her mother was nowhere near as great as Jake says his dad is, she was a total out right bitch. Bella also thought that her life was more than a little challenging, it was a living hell.
And even though she felt a little jealous of Jake's relationship with his father, she couldn't help but like him. He at least cared what happen to his dad, and Bella could almost bet that his dad really was a great father. That's what Bella was truly jealous of.
Just as Bella thought that Old Quil joined them again. He walked in and sat down in the same spot and looked over at Bella and smiled.
"Is everything okay Old Quil?" Jake asked still worried about his father.
"Yeah," he said and looked at me and then back to Jake. "I guess Charlie went over to Billy's to talk about his problems and ended up yelling at your dad and leaving. Billy's worried about Charlie. He said he's never seen Charlie act that way and needs to come to talk to me. So later after we're finished here you can go get him and bring him over so we can have a little pow-wow," he told Jake with a smile.
Old Quil turned to look at Bella and patted her knee, when he noticed she seemed a little nervous at hearing that Charlie was causing trouble elsewhere. "It's nothing to worry about sweetheart, we'll work it out," he told Bella. Bella also nodded felling a little relieved.
Jake also nodded his head as we began where we left off. Old Quil went around the room introducing the pack, and when he got to Sam he stopped.
"Sam here is the Alpha of the pack; he keeps these young pups in line and is doing a fine job with it. Isn't that right Sam?" Old Quil said with a chuckle.
"I do my best sir," he said with a smile. Bella looked around the room as she remembered the reason she was sent here. Her Great-granddad worried she carried the wolf gene, because one of the girls phased, as she looked around the room she looked confused.
"What is it child?" Old Quil asked.
"Well, you said there was a female wolf…where is she?" Bella asked. The pack all looked at Sam and Embry. Bella noticed the sad expression Sam took on after she asked her question. She wondered what that was about.
"Bella," Embry said getting her attention. Bella looked over at the one they called Embry. "Well, you see, I kind of imprinted on Leah," Embry began.
"Yes, I was told of imprinting," Bella said as Old Quil patted her knee again and smiled.
"Well, you see this is kind of awkward…You see…Leah was kind of with Sam when I imprinted on her, and If you do know about imprinting, well, it doesn't give you too much of a choice on who you're going to be with. If you're with someone else and it happens, you kind of want to be with the one who imprinted on you and that means you have to leave the one you were with…in this case it was Sam," he said stumbling with his words, feeling sad after explaining it to Bella.
Bella looked at Sam with a sad expression, "I'm sorry Sam, that must be hard on you," Bella told him. Sam gave her a half smile.
"It's no one's fault Bella, it just happened, I'll get over it. Imprinting is the Great Spirit's way of finding your soul mate. It's our ancestor's way of showing you who you're destined to be with. With just one glance into his or her eyes both of your worlds shift. It's then that you realize that you've imprinted and she or he becomes your whole world. You souls bond together tightly and pull you towards one another, and there's no one else you want to be with, and if you're with someone at the time…Well, they become of no consequence. Oh sure you still love them, but that love becomes more of a brotherly love so to speak…it's as simple as that," Sam said, clearing up what Embry was trying to explain. Sam knew he was right, he just wished his head would explain it to his heart.
"But, what does the other party feel? I understand how the imprinted couple could feel that way, but what happens to the one they left behind?" Bella asked.
Sam lowered his head and swallowed, composing himself before he could answer, then raised his head to face Bella to answer her question.
"They remain broken," Sam said. He knew he was slowly getting over what he felt for Leah, especially since he, himself had imprinted on Bella, but they hadn't talked about it yet and she hadn't promised to accept the imprint. So Sam still remained a broken man. Bella gasped at what he said. Sam didn't want her pity, he wanted her love, but that wasn't possible yet…not yet.
Bella wondered if Sam had imprinted on her. It would explain why he was constantly watching her, because she was actually feeling a pull towards him, but she remembered him saying that when an imprint happens you don't feel the same way towards the partner you had before, it became more of a brotherly love, and she could see Sam was still suffering with his loss of Leah.
She even went as far as to think that maybe he was staring at her to get his mind off his ex by staying concerned about her problems at hand. She didn't know for sure, because she still didn't understand a lot about imprinting, but she knew she felt something for this gorgeous wolf so she would just let it play out and see where it leads. Bella was drawn out of her inner thoughts by Embry's voice grabbing her attention.
"Leah doesn't come around the pack too much for Sam's sake, so I pretty much relay the messages back to her when needed. Just as he said that the door flew open and a beautiful tall, sun kissed bronze, and very toned goddess walked through the door.
"Speak for yourself lover boy," the woman said and leaned down and kissed Embry smack on the lips and walked over to Bella and took her hand and gave it a shake. "Hey, you must be Bella, I'm Leah, welcome to the pack," she said and walked over on plopped down on Embry's lap. "Hey guys, what's shaking?" she asked.
Bella couldn't help herself. She gave Leah and wide smile followed by a giggle. She liked Leah, she was a very confident woman and Bella could tell she didn't take any shit from anyone. Bella was looking forward to spending some time with her if she'd allow it. Yeah, she was starting to like hanging out with the pack and looked forward to more times like this.
Old Quil also watched as Leah introduced herself to Bella. He also noticed that Bella perked up after Leah made herself known. Quil was definitely happy with this revelation. Maybe Leah was just the one to chase away all Bella's fears, and maybe just maybe Leah could get out all that happened to Bella while she was with her mother.
He thought Leah could possibly be the one to make Bella face her demons, and if that was possible, Bella would be more outgoing and come out of her shell more. Yeah, Quil found himself hopeful for a change, now he just had to figure out what's up with Charlie.
