Chapter 21

Laurent

I drove down to the La Push Reservation with Amy and Lobo. Emily and I were going to bake for the wolves today. When we arrived Paul patrolled the outer border; Embry, Sam, and Jake wandered through the woods near the house, waiting for food; and Jared ran the perimeter of the outer border. Bella told me she would stay home and do laundry today, but I highly doubted that. If she didn't want to tell me what she was doing, that was her business. Emily and I made muffins when a wolf howl sounded from outside. I rushed outside as Embry emerged from the trees in shorts.

"What is it?" I asked panicky as Jake and Sam argued, exiting from the forest.

"Paul picked up on a vampire's scent. He picked up Bella's scent near there too. He is going to track down the leech but he thinks that the vampire is hunting Bella." Embry admitted.

"Then you need to go after him! It's not one of the Cullens, because I just talked to them and they're out of the state. Edward isn't anywhere in the area, I know that much. But why are Sam and Jake arguing while a vampire could be snacking on Bella?" I asked in outrage.

"They're arguing over whether Bella should know about us and who should be the one to tell her." Embry responded in a soothing tone. Slightly still raging, I marched over to the two alpha males. Jake could deny the position all he wanted but he and Sam would always have the tendency to battle for the top because they were men, not because they were wolves.

"She already knows about us! Besides, she was friends with vampires! She can handle weird stuff like this." Jake argued.

"So you don't think she'll see us in the forest and run to tell her dad that the bears in the forest aren't bears, they're wolves?" Sam responded.

Jake looked stumped at how to reply to that. We all knew that Bella would go tell Charlie, having no idea that the wolves were her friends, not her enemies. I interjected having more reason than both of them. "Either way, you're supposed to protect the locals from vampires. Bella especially because the Cullens aren't the only ones extremely attached to her, Jacob and I would both be extremely…" I searched for the right word. "Upset if anything happened to her."

Sam sighed realizing he wasn't going to win this argument. "Fine, but Jake, I forbid you from telling Bella about us under Alpha Order. She is not an imprint nor is she part of the tribe."

Jake looked to me for a solution. My mind searched and quickly found the answer. "Sam, I'm going to tell Bella. Jake may be bound by your orders, but I'm not."

"Do you not remember the agreement we had?" He referenced the deal we made when Embry had been changing.

"I most certainly remember it, most likely better than you. I agreed to keep the wolves a secret in promise of information about Embry's wellbeing. He is no longer transforming, therefore the deal is off." I shot back. Emily giggled behind me, intrigued that someone had finally decided to take on Sam.

Not having any argument to my statement, Sam kept quiet. A minute later he sighed with defeat. "Fine, you can tell Bella…" A wolf howl broke off his next comment. Embry sprinted to the forest. A few minutes passed when he came back, pulling on his shorts.

"Paul is on the edge of a clearing. He saw Bella talking with a vampire. The vampire is darker skinned toned and has dread locks, definitely a human eating leech because of the red eyes. What's the verdict?" Embry asked.

I thought back to everything Bella had told me the day we walked on the beach. Her description of a vampire named Laurent appeared in my mind. Embry's description seemed to match what Bella had told me. But from what I understood Laurent wasn't involved with James' games. But I doubted that Laurent wouldn't take a bite of her if he was hungry.

"She knows him, but it's not wise to let him live. Especially with the company he was keeping last spring break." I responded.

Sam commanded the boys next. "Let's go." Sam kissed Emily, Jacob sprinted off, and Embry came to kiss me before he left.

"Take me with you." I pleaded.

"No, we can't have you around when this goes down." Sam interrupted.

"I thought we already went over this. Bella is going to need someone around she can trust and to keep her calm while you guys are ripping Laurent apart." I responded.

"Fine." Sam agreed and ran off into the forest. I quickly kissed Amy's forehead and ran after Embry into the forest. By the time I caught up with him he had already undressed and shifted. He kneeled down and I grabbed his fur, careful not to rip any out or tug too hard, to hoist myself onto his back. Once I was settled he sprinted off into the forest. We flew by so fast I couldn't see where we were going. Just when I thought we were about to hit a tree it was already ten yards behind us. I hugged my body close to Embry's as to not fly off or get bugs in my teeth. When we approached the clearing Embry stopped before the opening next to a group of werewolves. I was able to spot who was who. A silent communication passed between them all mentally and then they stepped out into the clearing. Bella stood frightened, Laurent next to her ready to start snacking until he heard the wolves menacing growls resound through the woods. Laurent began to run as the wolves began to pounce. I quickly slid off of Embry and landed on the ground. I kissed his fur forehead and told him, "Have fun." He winked to me and ran off with the rest of the boys. I sprinted to a shell-shocked Bella; her face seemed a touch paler than usual.

"Bella! Bella!" I waved my hands in front of her face trying to break her out of the state she was in.

"What were those things?" She asked looking to the forest where the boys had chased Laurent.

"That was Sam, Jake, Embry, Paul, and Jared. They're all werewolves." I tried to say as few words as possible as to not scare her.

She seemed to absorb the information but didn't say anything, still trying to process what I had just said. "Let's walk back to your truck and you can explain to me what you were doing out here on your own."

We hiked as she explained that she was trying to find the meadow where Edward took her on their first date, hoping to bring back hallucinations. She found the meadow, bringing on no hallucinations, until Laurent showed up. Edward warned her to do things, lie to him, to keep herself safe. Maybe if she hangs out with Jake she'll have more hallucinations, telling her to stay away from him for her own safety. When she concluded her part of the story telling, she began to ask me questions.

"How long has Embry been a wolf? How long has Jake been a wolf? How long have you known?" She asked.

"Woo, slow down there. First, Embry's been a werewolf since Thanksgiving. Jake started changing while we left for Pismo Beach. I've known since Embry started getting sick on Thanksgiving and when Sam Uley showed up on my front doorstep. The story you told me about the cold one and how Jake's tribe was descended from wolves. It all clicked together in that instant." We arrived at Bella's truck and she handed me the keys, not feeling stable enough to drive. I started heading for Emily's, knowing that's where the boys would go when they finished and that's where Amy and Lobo where. The questions kept rolling, but Bella seemed more curious than afraid. By the time we reached La Push, Bella knew everything I knew about the wolves. She walked in with me skeptical of her surroundings. After seeing Lobo and Amy and being greeted by Emily, she felt more comfortable, easing into the wooden chair at the table. The boys joined us as Emily and I sat the food on the table. Because the boys inhaled the food faster than a vacuum sucks up dirt, we had to make much more. Jake and Bella walked off for an hour to talk down on the beach. I'm sure he explained things to her better than I could. The boys considerately washed the dishes for us, and then went back on patrol. With the promise that Embry would spend the night with me, I left the house with Lobo and Amy in the back of the car as Bella followed us home. She hugged me goodnight saying that she and Jake would go have a motorcycle practice day tomorrow. The three of us would ride after she had practiced a bit. But the next day I received a panicked call from Jake saying Bella had fell off the bike, hurt her head, and was at the hospital getting stitches. As I pulled on boots to go down to the emergency room to check on Bella, Jake told me that they were finishing up and that he'd bring Bella back soon. Jacob made Bella swear not to ride again, because it was obviously too dangerous. I started to think this was getting out of hand. Edward needed to come back before Bella did something stupid like jumping off a cliff.