Important A/N at the bottom, please read.
Chapter 19
A tapping sound woke Bella the next morning. Slowly peeling her eyes open, Bella let them adjust to the light filtering in the room from the single-pane window. Bella made an attempt to stretch her muscles...when she realized she couldn't move. Something was pinning her to the bed. When she began to panic, a snore stopped her struggle. It was then that she noticed that the thing that was holding her to the bed was heavy and very warm. Scanning her eyes down her body she was met with first a toned russet arm, and following the muscle down to the finger she saw that Jake's hand was completely wrapped around her front and tucked under her opposite shoulder. When she tried to wiggle her legs once more she realized that his legs were draped over hers. Moving her head, she could now feel Jake's face tangled up in her hair, his lips were close to touching the back of her neck; she could feel the heat from his breath fanning through her hair.
Not wanting the warmth to leave, Bella lay limp under Jake's massive arms and legs, a smile slowly creeping across her face. She could hear Billy's wheelchair squeaking down the hall, moving into the kitchen. It wasn't long after when she heard pots and pans being shuffled around. She wondered then if Billy knew that she was there, wondered if she knew that Jake was there with her.
All she could remember from the meeting at the treaty line with Emmett was her telling him that she was okay; she could remember Jake putting her in his old bed, her asking Jake to stay, him telling her that he couldn't, her heart breaking at his words. She remembered Leah coming back and helping her to sit up and take her medicine, and she could just barely remember the feeling of being enveloped in warmth; she had thought it was a dream. It was then that she remembered Jake saying that the Cullens were coming back tomorrow. They were coming here, all of them. She could feel her heart start to pound, then cold that began licking at her fingertips. The warm arm that was wrapped around her torso tightened, and Jake grunted in his sleep.
"Bells. You're okay, Bella. I'm right here."
His words instantly soothed her, but she couldn't help but wonder why he was there. He had said he wasn't coming back, had told her that he needed to get home to the kids. "You came back."
The leg draped over her legs squeezed her tighter, as his lips fought through her hair to connect with her neck, the burning hot heat of his lips made her shiver. "I'm sorry I told you I couldn't," he whispered, as he kissed her neck. "I didn't think I was going to, but Ali said I should."
"Ali." It wasn't a question, but Bella pinched her eyes together, wondering just how much he had been telling their kids.
"She can be…" there was a pause and a chuckle, "very convincing."
"She told you to stay here with me. What did you tell her, what did she say?"
"Bells, why do you have a photo album with pictures of me and the kids, and Charlie in it?" He felt her stiffen, and then she relaxed.
"Emmett and Rosalie, they stole it from my mom's house in Florida."
"Who did what now?" She could feel the vibrations on her back, but she couldn't decipher if it was out of anger that Rosalie and Emmett were near her mom or the fact that someone like the Cullens was crazy enough to break into a house to steal pictures.
"Emmett, the one you met last night, when we were living in Louisiana they left for a while and when they came back they gave that to me. Rosalie told me that she and Emmett went down to Florida to find my mom, hoping that I would get in contact with her to let someone from my life know that I was alright. They found her and followed her, and one day when she was out they broke into her house and Emmett stole all of the pictures from her house, had them copied and made them into a book for me."
"Are you serious?" Jake didn't know what to think about that, he was at a loss for words.
"Yes. When they gave me the pictures, it was like the best thing ever - seeing the kids, Jake, they were so beautiful, and I couldn't stop looking at you in the pictures, I missed you so much." What little she could move, she made her arms come up to latch around his forearm. "Those pictures were the only thing that got me through some of the days; they made me want to fight and get better to work up the courage to come back to you."
The leg and arm wrapped once again around her tighter, almost to the point of pain, but Bella basked in the feeling of Jake's warmth against her skin. "How long have you had those, Bella?"
"We've lived in Whitefish, Montana for the last eight years; it was a couple of years before we moved there, I don't know, about ten years."
"You've been that close and you didn't just come back? Why didn't you come back, Bells?"
With a roll of her eyes and a huff, Bella parted her lips to speak, but before she could say anything, Jake spoke for her, "You really thought I would imprint, Bella? That I could actually do that to you, honey? I would never do that to you."
"You looked so happy that day, Jake, what was I supposed to think?"
"You weren't supposed to think that I had imprinted. I told you, Bells, I promised you all those years ago that I wouldn't do it and I didn't, I didn't imprint on her."
"I know you didn't, Jake, but Sam probably thought the same thing before he saw-," Jake's growl cut her off, before she could say another word, "I'm not Sam," he grit out, while the hand on her shoulder squeezed hard.
Just then the bedroom door slowly creaked open; peering over Jake's arm, Bella could see Billy sitting in his chair, a look of shock written on his face. When Jake fought his way out of the mess of her hair she could see the shock slide from his face until it resembled a smile; there was a glint in his eye as he stared back at them, as he said, "What did I tell you about bringing girls into your room, son?"
Bella's cheeks were instantly on fire, while Jake's head dropped back down into her hair, as he muttered something to himself.
"Well, come on kids, breakfast is ready. I didn't know you would be here this morning, Jake." The glint was back, "I would say I'm shocked that the smell of bacon didn't have you running to the kitchen, but I see you were preoccupied with other things."
"Dad!" Jake yelled, while throwing a pillow at Billy's quickly retreating form.
Bella took advantage of the lack of restraint and rolled over and buried her head in the pillow; she could still feel the heat burning on her face. She didn't really know why she should be embarrassed; she and Jake had shared this room and the same little bed, the entire time she was pregnant, but Billy and his teasing had done the trick.
She could feel Jake shuffling around in the bed, and she thought that he was getting up to go to the kitchen. She was proven wrong when she felt the heat at her back, the full length of his body barely pressing into hers as he hovered over her. When his lower half brushed up against her butt she gasped, taking in the smell that Jake had left on the pillow: earth, musk, and pine. Turning her head just in time, Jake dropped a kiss to the corner of her mouth before pressing his hips into her butt again, causing a straggled moan to escape her lips.
Out in the kitchen there was a very loud cough, and a couple pots clanked around. Jake chuckled, kissed the corner of her mouth once more and shot off the bed, not allowing his body to touch hers again, earning a whimper from Bella. Throwing the pillow across the room, Bella shook her head at the feeling.
She could hear the bathroom door close, and then the water in the sink started up. Peeling herself from the bed, Bella took stock of her clothes, she was still in the same thing she was wearing the night before minus the hoodie, which was now draped over Jake's old desk by her medicine. She remembered Leah helping her take it off before she fell back to sleep. Looking at the clock, Bella noticed that it read ten thirty. It was late; she couldn't believe she had slept that late.
As she made her way down the hall the bathroom door opened once more and Jake paused, looking at her with burning eyes. He very lightly shoved her against the wall in the hall and attacked her throat and neck with hot open-mouthed kisses. Every time his wet lips would touch her skin she would shudder, and when his hands began to roam down her sides, she fought back a moan, knowing that Billy was just feet away in the kitchen. Just as his hand made its way to the back of her jeans, one finger making their way into her back pocket, an even louder cough came from the kitchen.
Bella's head fell back against the wall with a thud, Jake's forehead pressed to hers, she could see that he was frustrated but he was also smiling. Turning her head to break their eye contact, Bella cleared her throat, "Coming, Billy."
"Any time now would be nice, kids" Billy shot back, amusement clearly ringing in his voice.
Jake backed up from Bella, smiling again as her eyes slid down his body. She hadn't really noticed that he wasn't wearing a shirt, and when her eyes made their way down to the almost too-tight-in-the-first-place basketball shorts, they widened, and her hand shot to her mouth; she quickly averted her eyes from the ever-growing appendage, and she had to fight the urge to reach out and stroke it. As innocently as he could, Jake whispered 'What,' with another smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Smacking his chest, Bella began to walk away, when his hot hand grabbed her wrist and jerked her back to him. His hips bucked forward at the same time, causing Bella to openly gasp when she felt his erection digging into her lower back.
Fighting her way out of his embrace, she wheeled around and poked him in the chest. "Stop," she tried to scold, but the smile on her face gave her away. She knew he knew that she liked it, but Billy was waiting for them in the kitchen. Pointing down to the now full tent in his shorts, Bella spoke again, "Do something about that before you come out here." Before Jake could react, Bella was quickly making her way down the hall, her tiny hips swaying as she went.
Leaning back up against the wall, Jake tried to will his erection away, but the thought of those little hips shaking at him as she made her retreat sent his head banging into the wall behind him. "Fuck," he muttered, before rubbing his hands over his face. Only Bella could do that to him.
As Bella rounded the corner into the kitchen, she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight before her. Billy was sitting at the table, a huge smile on his face; next to him was Ali, who was also wearing a huge smile. With wide eyes Bella slowly began making her way into the kitchen, never dropping her gaze from her daughter. Ali looked so much her. It was like she was almost seeing herself sixteen years ago, sitting at that very table waiting for Jake to wake up.
Walking across the kitchen, Bella hurriedly made plates for the three, as she did so she could hear the tapping of Ali's foot on the kitchen floor, not long after a chair was scraping across the floor and Bella was enveloped with a hug from behind. It took her by surprise and she almost flinched away, but then Ali's forehead was pressed into her shoulder blades and Bella could barely hear her say 'I missed you,' before she broke down into a fit of sobs. Turning in her daughter's embrace Bella flung her arms around her shoulders and they both cried.
Billy sat watching the two as a single tear made its way out of the corner of his eye. Just as he was wiping it away a throat cleared at the door, and all heads shot in that direction. Jake was wearing his cut-off jeans, looking a little less frustrated than he had in the hall.
Bella used the pads of her thumbs to wipe the tears off her daughter's cheek before kissing her forehead and whispering that she missed her too, which caused a smile to split across Ali's face before she was making her way over to Jake.
"Hey, daddy," she chirped in a very Alice-like fashion, as she jumped into her chair.
"Hey, kid, where's CJ?"
"I'm right here, dad." CJ said, while the front door banged into the wall.
CJ rounded the corner but stopped, when he saw Bella leaning up against the counter, "What's she doing here?" He grit out.
The icy tone in CJ's voice made the hairs on Bella's arms stand on end, she could see that he was gritting his teeth just looking at her. The stare he was shooting at her almost made her want to cower down out of fright. It was odd that she was so intimidated by her own son.
CJ walked over to the counter where the pan of biscuits sat, and he grabbed three and shoved one in his mouth. Turning on his heel he began to walk away while attempting to yell, "I'm out," when Jake's huge hand landed on his shoulder with a little more force than necessary, or so Bella thought; she saw Ali wince at the same time that CJ did. Scanning the room, she could see Billy's lips pressed together in a tight line and the anger clearly written on Jake's face.
"You'll sit, and you'll eat breakfast with us, then you can leave, CJ." There was just enough timbre there for Bella to feel it, Jake had just Alpha ordered her son to stay and have breakfast with them. The thought made Bella's heart crack, her head falling forward just enough for her hair to draw a curtain over her face.
When the chair was roughly scraped back from the table she pinched her eyes shut, and then there was a loud clatter. Looking up she could see that CJ was sitting across from her boring holes into her face. She looked up at him with sad eyes and mouthed 'I'm sorry'. She didn't know what else she could say. She was sorry, sorry for everything that he had been through, sorry for what they all had been through, but mostly she was sorry that Jake had ordered him to do something against his will.
She felt a hot arm brush up against her own, then. Looking to the left, Jake had moved his chair closer to hers, so they would be in constant contact. When Bella shifted just enough, not only was her arm touching his but so was her leg and foot, she could feel the heat of his body warming the entire left side of her own and she relaxed at the feeling of it.
The splintering of wood brought her out of her relaxed state, when she looked up CJ's teeth were clinched and his knuckles were white from his fingers digging into Billy's table. She shot her eyes to the right and could see that Billy was getting upset by the scene in front of him, and when her eyes landed on Ali's her heart almost broke again. She had tears shining in her eyes; they were darting back and forth from CJ to Bella.
Sliding her chair back, Bella stood, "I think I'm just going to go for a walk. I'll be back in a bit."
"No."
"Go ahead, we don't need you anyway."
Jake and CJ had spoken in unison. Bella tensed at her son's words but turned on her heel and began to walk out of the kitchen. A hot hand grabbed around her waist, hauling her body to his chest with a squeak. Bella's feet were off the ground when Jake turned her around to face the table. She felt like a helpless child, she knew she couldn't fight to get away from Jake, deep down she really didn't want to, but what she was putting her kids through right now just wasn't worth it to her.
Billy's eyes shot to hers, angry and pleading. "You're not leaving, Bella, this may be uncomfortable for you, but we are family and we are going to work this out."
"Are you kidding!" CJ roared, while shooting up from his seat. Pointing a shaking finger at Bella, he sneered, "What do I have to work out with her? I don't want to have anything to do with this leech-lover."
Bella's eyes widened in shock, the words Paul had used against her all those years ago and even at the bonfire the night before had her gasping for breath. He really hated her.
Billy's hand smacked down onto the table so hard Ali flinched right along with Bella, and Jake's grip had tightened once more on her waist. The cups that were full of milk and water sloshed out onto the hardwood surface. "Now you listen to me, young man, this is my house, you hear me, mine, and no one is going to talk to one of my guests that way, do you understand me?" He said, while his own shaking finger pointed in CJ's direction.
"But grandpa!" The tone in his voice had changed from angry to that of a scared little kid putting up a fight.
"No 'but grandpa's this time, CJ. That right there," Billy said, while moving his finger toward Bella, "is your mother, whether you like it or not, right now. She carried you all those months ago and she loved you even before you took your first breath, and you are going to have to suck it up and show some damn respect."
Bella couldn't take her eyes off the scene. CJ was shaking, his skin almost to the point of blurring, Ali was sitting at the table looking at Billy with her mouth hanging open, apparently she had never really dealt with the wrath that was Billy, while Jake stood stock-still, holding onto her for dear life.
Bella patted Jake's hand, signaling to him that she wanted to be put down, and when his grip tightened around her just a little more, she rubbed her hand soothingly across the back of his. With a near silent huff, Jake slowly lowered her to the ground. Turning her back to CJ, she looked up at Jake, but his eyes didn't meet hers. Bella was sure they were trained over her head at CJ.
Cupping his cheeks, Bella tilted his head down toward hers. When he fought, her grip on his face tightened. When his eyes finally scanned down toward hers she could tell that he was angry, but she could see the sadness in his eyes at the same time. Drop the command, Jake, if he doesn't want to stay don't make him, it'll only make him angrier and I don't want him to be. When her voice cut into his consciousness, she could feel Jake stiffen for the slightest bit of time, before he relaxed. Looking down at her, he asked her if he was sure with his eyes. Nodding her head, Jake whispered something while looking at CJ once more. As soon as she heard heavy footsteps retreating down the hall she pressed her tear-stained cheeks into Jake's chest her palm flattened beside her face. Thank you. Rubbing her wet face across his bare chest really didn't rid her of her tears, but it did allow her to breath in his scent which in return relaxed her enough so that she could turn around and face Billy and Ali.
Ali was sitting in CJ's abandoned seat while Billy had begun eating. Shuffling into her seat she looked at Billy, touching the hand that was sitting idly on the table. "I'm sorry, Billy."
With a deep sigh Billy looked up at her, "Don't be, Bella, CJ isn't ready to deal with things in a responsible manner right now, it reminds me of someone I used to know." Billy said while tilting his head in Jake's direction.
"Hey!" Jake yelled out in mock shock, "I was never that bad."
"I think Sam would beg to differ," Billy said, while chuckling to himself.
The rest of breakfast went by pretty smoothly and quietly, all things considered. Bella listened as Jake talked to Billy about pack business and then to Ali about when her and Leah's next patrol would be.
When breakfast was done, Billy excused himself to the living room to watch a baseball game while Jake dropped a kiss to her forehead and walked out the back door to try and track CJ down. Ali and Bella were left in the kitchen. When Ali began helping Bella clean up the table, Bella smiled. "You don't have to help with the dishes, I can finish this if you have other plans."
Ali looked at Bella through her own curtain of hair, Bella could see the light flush to her cheeks when she smiled, "No plans. Besides, I want to spend time with you."
Bella's body turned to Ali, her mouth opening and closing, shock clearly evident on her face.
"I mean, if… if you want me to, I can leave if you don't want to spend time with me." Ali's voice quivered, and her eyes began to tear at the words.
"What, no… god no, I want to spend time with you, Ali, it's just I didn't think you would want to spend time with me."
Ali's hand shot to her hip, with her foot jutted out, "Are you for real?" she asked, disblief in her tone. "I've been waiting to spend time with you all of my life." Her eyes got wide and her hand slapped over her mouth. "I mean, I knew that you would come back some day, everyone else may have thought different, but I just knew."
"Really?" was all Bella could squeak out.
Ali gave Bella her best Jake smile, "Sure, sure."
The next forty minutes were spent cleaning the dishes, the kitchen, and getting Billy soda from the fridge. When the last dish was washed and dried, Bella threw the rag over her shoulder, wiped the sweat off her brow and leaned back against the cabinet. When Ali walked in from yet another soda delivery she shuffled on her feet and began picking at the loose strand on her own cut-off jean shorts.
"Mo-" Bella's heart rate picked up just enough as she caught Ali's slip, "Bella, can I show you something?"
The warmth that was running through Bella's veins at the near slip had her almost giddy and on edge, she had never had anyone call her Mom and Ali almost had, it left her excited but sad that she didn't actually call her it at the same time.
"You can show me anything, Ali."
"Grandpa, we're going out to Daddy's garage, do you still have that spare key Uncle Embry left for you?" Ali yelled over her shoulder, while rummaging through one of the many junk drawers in the kitchen.
Before Billy could answer, Bella did, "You won't need a key, I kind of smashed the lock last night."
Ali quirked her eyebrow at Bella, shrugged her shoulder and smiled, "Good enough for me."
When they made it to the garage door, Ali tugged it open with little force. Sifting through the layers of dust, she reached under one of the work benches, and pulled out an old lantern. The garage, although lit a little more than last night, was full of shadows, at best, and while Ali could clearly see her way around, Bella was still knocking into things as she went. Reaching into one of the pockets of a hanging apron, Ali pulled out a book of matches.
When the lantern was lit Bella raised an eyebrow to her daughter. Shrugging her shoulders, Ali looked at Bella with a smile on her face. "CJ and Sage used to make out in here before Uncle Embry caught them a while back, and I used to come here a lot too, before Dad found out."
Making her way to the back of the garage, Ali threw a couple of old half-broken boxes off to the side, revealing a trunk; in disbelief, Bella stepped forward, held the lantern out in front of her, and gasped at what she saw. The top of the trunk had eight wolves carved on the front of it, standing in a clearing in the forest. They were her wolves, and this was the trunk Jake had given her as a baby shower gift. The antique latches on the trunk had gained rust on the edges but not on the hinges themselves, and Bella wondered at who might have looked at this trunk and its contents, and just how often.
Falling to her knees in front of the truck, she lowly traced the pad of her finger over Jake's wolf first, and then the rest of the pack; she could feel the tears stinging in the corner of her eyes. Ali was kneeling beside Bella. Reaching in front of her, she gave a questioning glace, and then slowly lifted the lid.
The smell of cedar and paper met Bella's nostrils; she loved the smell of cedar. Heaving in a deep breath, Bella relaxed onto her heels. Looking into the trunk, she noticed it wasn't as full as it was when she had left. She quickly began rummaging through the contents, hastily shoving papers, folders and baby blankets out of her way.
Ali quickly grabbed her arm to halt her movement, and when Bella's eyes shot to hers they were frantic.
"I have them, all of them."
Bella's eyes widened, "You have my books?"
"Yeah. I found this trunk once when Cheyenne and I were playing hide and seek when we were kids. I think I was like nine or ten. I begged Daddy to let us camp out here that night, he let us stay but he stayed outside in wolf form, like I didn't know."
"You knew then, about the pack?"
"Yeah. I mean, Dad said Grandpa Billy and Grandma Sue told us the stories when they were putting us to sleep as kids, and the first time Dad phased around us we were four, and we thought he was a dog. CJ cried when he phased back, because Dad took his dog away from him."
Bella sat there in shock, hearing that her kids had known about the pack since they were kids, "Did the others know too, I mean, did their parents tell them?" Bella wondered out loud.
"No, they didn't tell their kids, and most of them regret it. When CJ and I phased he was just angry, and sure, I freaked out some, but, once it clicked, I knew what was going on, and so I calmed down and I was able to phase back pretty quick. But the others were going nuts, it was a mess."
"How was your Dad able to tell you if he wasn't Alpha until six years ago?"
"He told Uncle Sam that he was going to tell us no matter what, that we weren't his kids and it wasn't any of his business, I guess it helped that half of the council were related to us, ya know."
With a nod Bella let her gaze wander back to the trunk. Skimming over the contents that were laying on top, her eyes landed on a folder that read Forks Community Hospital; picking up the folder, Bella flipped it open. Inside were over a dozen black pieces of film; she knew instantly what the were. "Why are my x-rays in here? Where did Jake get these from?"
Ali chuckled, just softly enough so that Bella could hear her, "Those aren't yours, those are CJ's."
"But... I didn't think. Oh, God, did he get hurt? Did a vampire hurt him?"
"We weren't always wolves, remember?" Ali said with an annoyed sigh.
"When did you change?"
"You weren't listening at the bonfire last night?"
Bella shook her head, because in truth she really wasn't letting herself soak everything in when it came to her kids, and how much everyone had been there for them but her.
"We all changed last year, all of the pups at least. Dad always has a bonfire for our birthday on the beach. CJ was acting funny all day, and that night when we were having the party, Cole said something, and it just set him off. I don't really remember much of anything except him running toward Cole, yelling at him for talking about me that way, and as soon as he jumped he turned into a wolf and next thing you know all of us were wolves except for Cole, I think CJ scared him or something but he phased a couple of seconds after CJ landed on him."
"Are you okay? I mean, nothing bad has happened since then, has there, no one's gotten hurt?"
"We're a pretty big pack, nothing bad has happened."
Looking back through the film Bella held them to the lantern, the light was barely enough to show her each one. There were one of each of his ankles and hands, one of his stomach, which showed a coin- Bella looked to Ali at this, who in return shrugged her shoulders, "He stuck them in his mouth all the time, that one just got swallowed." There were two x-rays of his chest, on one of the x-rays Bella could tell when he was just a baby, her hand flew to her mouth as her eyes shot in Ali's direction once again, "What happened? Is something wrong with him?"
"Dad said they found a heart murmur at his two month appointment, they took the x-ray for tests, but said it wasn't serious. Doesn't really matter, I guess. Now that he's gone wolf, it's gone. He fell out of a tree when he was eleven and they took the other one to see if he had any cracked ribs."
"God, he's so much like me," Bella whispered to herself while shaking her head.
Ali laughed again. "Yeah, he was a real klutz before he phased, he still stumbles around sometimes, but don't tell him I told you that, he'd get pissed."
"Language," Bella whispered, before she realized anything had come out of her mouth, "Oh, sorry," She stuttered out, she hadn't even realized that she was scolding her until it was done.
Ali just smiled, and took the folder from her hands. Sitting it on the couch Ali rummaged through the trunk until she pulled out two small blankets, one was blue and the other purple. "Dad didn't like pink, he would never let me have anything too pink, he said that if he had to have a girl color in the house or on his daughter it was going to be purple."
"My old bedspread was purple."
"I know, I have it," Ali stated, matter-of-factly.
"You have my bedspread?" Bella was shocked that it wasn't torn to shreds or thrown out with the trash after she had disappeared.
"Yeah. Grandpa Charlie gave it to me when he started renting out his house in Forks, I have most of the furniture from your old room in mine."
"He kept it. Dad kept all my furniture?"
"Dad told him he wanted it for me, so he let us have it."
"You wanted my old furniture? Why?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Ali stated sadly. "It was the only thing of yours that I could actually have out in the open that CJ wouldn't try to smash when he saw it."
There was a howl in the distance. Ali stood slowly, while brushing the dirt from her knees, "Well, that's Leah, which means I gotta go do my patrol. Since there are so many of us we only have to go a couple of hours at a time. I'll be back later…" There was a pause, as Ali stood at the door, her feet shuffling back and forth, "...Mom." Bella blinked her shock away as she watched Ali leaving her. When her eyes opened the door to the garage stood ajar, the light streaming in; Ali was gone. Bella could feel the tears leak out of her eyes, but she was smiling because one of her kids had actually spent a couple of hours with her and hadn't tried to kill her or make her suffer for her absence.
Twenty minutes later Bella had successfully dragged the oversized cedar trunk to the front of the garage. Sitting on an old milk crate, she began rooting through the trunk once more. All of the pictures that were on her wall in her old bedroom had been stuffed in there, bound by a rubber band; flipping through the pictures, Bella smiled at the memories, memories of when her life was so easy and carefree. As she flipped through the pictures Bella didn't see any of her and Jake, nor none from the times when she was at La Push when Jake was trying to make her whole again, and there were none of the pictures she had from when they were kids. She frowned, hoping that he hadn't thrown them away, some of those pictures were the only one she had of her and Charlie and Renee before the divorce happened. One in particular she hoped hadn't gotten lost; it had been one of Sarah holding Jacob as he slept in her lap on First Beach.
Wrapping the band back around the pictures, Bella reached into the trunk and found a plastic zip-loc bag. Inside it was a shiny quarter. She threw her head back and laughed, laughed harder than she had in forever. Bella was laughing so hard and so loud that Billy could hear her through the open windows of his house, and the wolf that was stalking out of the woods slowly paused with a lupine smile on his lips, at hearing its mate's laughter; it was something he had never thought he would hear ever again. The wolf phased, and still as slowly and quietly as he could he walked to the door of the garage.
Looking in, he saw Bella sitting on a milk crate, her back to him her shoulders quaking with laughter. He could see one of her arms wrapped around her stomach, smell the salty scent of her tears. This time, though, Jake caught himself smiling instead of worrying. He stood there watching her, her head flung back with a deep throaty laugh, and he could see her hand make its way up to her eyes to brush the tears away. Just as Jake would think she was going to stop laughing she would topple forward clutching her stomach, and the laughing fit would start all over again. He too would smile.
There was movement behind him. Embry and Quil were walking out of the woods, tying their cut-off pants to their ankles. As they stepped up to the garage door, Bella had just begun another bout of laughter. Quil and Embry looked at Jake, confusion written on their faces.
"Dude, I think she went crazy, she sounds like a hyena."
"What's going on with her, man?"
Jake just shrugged his shoulders, worried that even speaking low enough for Embry and Quil to hear would catch her attention. The two smiled at that. Caught in the middle of a laughing fit Bella didn't realize that that she was leaning to the side far enough for the milk crate to begin tipping. When she threw her head back again the milk crate toppled to the side, taking Bella with it. Jake was just about to run to her when Embry's hand held him back. The moment of silence was broken when Bella roared with laughter once again.
Quil's eyes widened, and as he looked at Jake he moved his finger in a circular motion around his temple, "Loco, for sure. You know how to pick 'em, Alpha."
The slap couldn't be helped, really, sometimes Quil just needed to learn how to shut up. The sound of the crack against the back of a werewolf skull sent Bella scrambling to her feet. Her laughter froze in her throat, her chest was still heaving from lack of breath, her hands were fisted at her stomach, the three wolves could see the tear tracks running down her face and the wet dots on her t-shirt.
"Hey, Ed," Quil called out, just before the elbow connected with his gut.
"I told you, she's not crazy," Jake gritted out.
"Damn. Easy, man, I was just joking." Quil tried to stand straight up, but the pain that was still shooting through his gut hadn't lessened.
Bella's head was cocked to the side as she looked at Quil. "Why did you call me Ed?"
"Don't worry about it, Bells, Quil is still the same idiot he used to be."
"Hey, why so harsh, man?"
Jake took two steps toward Bella, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips, "You find something funny in that thing, Bells?"
Bella's body jerked in silent laughter, her lips split into another huge smile.
"Here she goes again," Quil said, while bumping his elbow into Embry's forearm.
Knowing to keep silent, Embry looked at Quil and shook his head; he really didn't know when to shut up.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, there was a blur, and Jake had Quil in a headlock, and the two were wrestling around on the damp ground. Jake of course wasn't using his Alpha strength on Quil, but he still had the upper hand. As the two wrestled in the grass and cussed at each other Embry walked over to Bella, bumping her with his hip, "Just like old times, huh?" Bella's smiled turned into a frown, and she nodded sadly.
"So, uh, what did you find?" Embry blurted out, not wanting her to be sad because of something he said.
Once again the smile spilt Bella's face, and she jerked her arm out toward Embry. He too couldn't help but let out a throaty chuckle, stopping the two who were fighting on the ground.
"Is that what I think that is?" Quil asked in disbelief, while trying to untangle his head from Jake's hold.
Jake's head fell back onto the soft ground.
Laughter rang out between the two wolves as Jake lay sprawled behind them, "I can't believe you kept that, Jake! Did you dig through his crap to keep it? That's just sick, dude, sick."
Jake was on his feet, once again barreling toward Quil, when Quil quickly grabbed Bella and pulled her in front of him. Bella's squeak of surprise stopped Jake in his tracks.
Bella noticed that Jake's face was red, and she knew that it was not from the wrestling. Jerking the Zip-loc bag toward Jake, Bella smiled. "Is this really the quarter CJ swallowed, you really saved it?"
Jake's hand shot to the back of his neck, another flush of pink just barely made its way to his cheeks when Embry and Quil roared with laughter once again. Jake postured toward Quil, embarrassment evident on his face, "Hey, you don't even have kids, what do you know?"
Embry chuckled, drawing Jake's attention towards him, "I never saved all those marbles Sage stuck up her nose."
It was a losing battle, Jake knew, so he turned his attention back to Bella, "Yeah, Bells, that's the quarter, how'd you know about that, anyway, or about the trunk?"
"Ali brought me out here, showed me this stuff. I haven't gotten very far, though."
"How'd you get it to the door, honey, that thing must weigh a ton?"
With a puff of breath, Bella blew one of her curls out of her sight, "It took me twenty minutes to drag it out here just so that I could see in it."
The three laughed once again, "There's a breaker out back, all you had to do was flip the switch."
"Well, of course there would be a breaker, wouldn't there," Aggravation clearly etched its way into her tone.
The three stood staring at each other, before Embry and Quil mumbled that they had to get home before their women got mad. As they walked out the door Jake bent over, picking up the chest like it was light as a feather, and slowly walked it to one of the work benches. Pulling a cord on one of the overhead lights, Jake patted a rusty bar stool, signaling for Bella to sit. Jake then walked out the door, leaving Bella to sit in darkness, until she heard a snap, and then the hum of the light above her head; slowly the room was filled with light.
When the garage was fully lit, Bella stood and started sifting through the trunk once more. Fingering the little things like pacifiers, teething rings and even two small diapers from when the kids were tiny, made Bella smile. She found another stack of pictures, and these had tissue paper in between them; they ranged from Ali and CJ when they were tiny babies, to them standing at the wood line alongside of Jake, and who Bella remembered as Embry's wolf. Flipping through them, Bella's heart warmed when she saw a picture of Ali in a tribal costume dancing in the streets of La Push, the next picture was CJ and he was missing a front tooth, a huge smile lit up on his face. He was on one knee in a football uniform, with his helmet tucked under his arm. The front of the uniform read Black's Auto. He had done it, everything Jake had said he was going to do he did. Bella was so proud of him in that moment.
Digging through the trunk, Bella sucked in a breath, when her hands hit the smooth wood of a baby rattle. One had Ali's name carved in it, the other side had the pack carved in it. Turning the rattle over, Bella heard the noise from the inside and she couldn't help but wonder who had made it. When she shoved more things over, a couple of baby blankets were moved out of the way, she found another; this one was CJ's. Picking them both up, Bella was impressed with the wood work, the handles weren't straight and smooth, but the wood was cut almost perfectly to fit a tiny little palm. CJ's rattle was a darker wood than Ali's.
"Dad made those for us." Bella's back stiffened at the sound of a voice, but soon she relaxed realizing it was Ali's. "Most of the furniture in the new house he made too."
Bella's head whipped around in shock, she remembered the dream catcher that Jake had made her and the wolf from all those years ago. Looking back into the truck she hadn't seen them; she couldn't help but wonder where they were.
"He makes furniture?"
Ali walked up to Bella and pulled the stool out from the bench. "Oh yeah, he made all kinds of stuff for the house, the pack helped too, but Dad's really good."
"What kind of things did he make for your house?"
Ali tapped her lips, "The mantel for the fireplace, the kitchen table and the counter, the pack helped him drag fallen trees out of the forest, he made me a trunk kind of like this one, and CJ a couple of book shelves for his room. He used driftwood logs to make his bed."
Bella was shocked at hearing of Jake's talents, but really why would she be? Even back then, the fact that his large hands could have made something as small and intricate as the wolf should have been proof enough that Jake had more talent than just repairing cars.
"Why are you telling me all of this? Even talking to me?" Bella's doubt was getting the better of her, she honestly didn't know why Ali was being so kind to her; Seth, Charlie and Sue she could understand, that's just who they were. But of all the people to be mad at her, hate her even, Bella thought her kids and Jake had every right.
"I was never mad at you," Ali whispered in reply. "Not ever. I always had this feeling deep down that you would come back. CJ always told me that it was wishful thinking, that I should just give up, but every year I would wait for you at the house in Forks. Dad told me about the tree you used to sit and read under. On our birthday I'd go there and wait for you. CJ came with me for a couple of years, but then he just stopped, but I never lost hope that you'd come back. I guess I was right, you came back. I can't be mad at you because something I knew would happen one day did, and even though I haven't seen my Dad much since you've been back," Ali said, a knowing look in her eyes which caused Bella to blush. "Even though he hasn't been around the last couple of days, I can tell that he is happy. Everyone can, it's the whole pack-bond thing. I couldn't be mad at you for making him as happy as he is."
"If he wasn't happy that I was back, would we still be sitting here?" Bella wasn't sure if she wanted the answer to the question, but from what Ali said, the main reason she was talking to Bella was Jake.
"Yeah, we would. You're my mom, and I want to know you no matter what anyone else feels about it. I always wanted to know you. I'll make my own decisions on who to trust and like or not."
"You're a lot like your Dad, you know, he always had faith in me even when others didn't."
Just then, Ali's stomach rumbled. Bella carefully put the rattles back into the trunk and shut the lid, "What do you say we get lunch, I bet Billy is getting hungry by now."
After Bella had made lunch and ate with Billy and Ali, Charlie had come to pick Billy up for some afternoon fishing, while Ali went to hang out on the beach with CJ and Sage. Bella considered walking back out to the old garage to finish looking through the trunk, but she chose to take a walk instead.
Bella found herself standing at the foot of Emily and Sam's steps; she couldn't hear anything going on in the house and she wondered if there was anyone there. When she picked her foot up to walk up the steps, a voice made her jump and wheel around.
"She's in the backyard, working in the garden."
Bella was clutching her chest and panting. Sam was standing beside his truck, in a pair of worn greasy jeans, with a uniform t-shirt that read Black's Auto on one side and Sam on the other.
Sam watched, as Bella's eyes scanned his chest back and forth between his name tag and the logo of Jake's shop.
"We've been open for about ten years now."
Bella bobbed her head up and down, still not taking her eyes off his shirt, "Do all of you work there?"
"Nope," Sam said, popping the P. "Seth and Quil work out of Jake's garage, he's been doing wood-working out of there for a few years now; it keeps them pretty busy. Paul, as you know, works on the force with Charlie, while Leah works at the pharmacy that Ryder owns in Forks. And me, Embry, Jared, Collin and Brady all work with Jake down at the shop. CJ works there too sometimes."
"Bella," Emily's voice called from beside them. Both she and Sam turned toward Emily, who was quickly walking toward them while tearing her mud-stained gloves from her hands. Emily raced up to Bella and grabbed her in a hug, "It's been so long! Come in, come in, I have muffins and cookies from the oven, they just got done."
Bella smiled at the familiarity of it, and Emily's muffins were some of the best on the Rez. Once inside the house, Bella and Emily sat down at the old worn wooden table, while Sam went upstairs to get a shower. As they were sitting at the table Emily shared with Bella her past. Bella learned that Sam was trying to stop phasing, along with some of the other older wolves, and while the vampire activity was nothing like it was years ago they were still around, which made it hard for them all to stop. Emily told Bella that Angela had opened a bakery and catering company in Forks, and that she and Rachel worked there and they loved their jobs, but that things had been really picking up, making things somewhat hectic. She told Bella that Jake took over Alpha when she had gotten a serious case of pneumonia and was in the hospital for a month and it was too hard on Sam, so Jake took on the role in his place.
Sam came down from the loft in just his jean shorts; leaning over the back of Emily's chair he dropped a kiss to her scars and one to her awaiting lips. Bella couldn't tear her eyes away from their display; in all these years it seemed that the bond between the two had only grown, making them stronger.
Sam looked up at Bella, who was still watching them, and cleared his throat. "Jake wants you to meet him back at Billy's in a little while, we are going to leave for the meeting with the Cullens soon."
Bella's body froze, her heart began frantically beating in her chest, "They're here? They're back, all of them?"
Sam seemed at a loss for words, at her reaction to the news that they were meeting with the Cullens. "Didn't Jake tell you, he said he told you that you had to meet them today."
"Why do they want to meet with the pack?"
Sam scratched the back of his neck, "It's in the treaty, whenever they come back we have to have a meeting with them. We need to see if anyone else has joined their coven and they need to see how the pack has grown. It's better for the pack, the pups at least, if they're on patrol, they're going to need to know who is the enemy and who's a Cullen."
As Bella was walking back to Billy's house, she could see Jake sitting on the steps of the porch looking in her direction; he watched her every move. Bella could feel his stare boring into her, as she moved closer to him. When she got within reaching distance Jake's hand shot out, grabbing her by the belt loop in her jeans, and pulled her into his lap. "You okay, honey? Your heart's hammering away in there."
Bella nodded her head into his neck, but she didn't move away. His grip tightened around her waist and he shifted her so that she was straddling his lap. Pulling back, Jake cupped Bella's cheeks in his hands and tried to give her a reassuring smile, but it really didn't work. Bella could feel his own hands shaking, which only added to her worry.
"Bells, you know if I didn't have to do this, I wouldn't. But they're back, and the big one-,"
"Emmett," Bella interrupted.
"Emmett- he said they were coming back, and that they would want to see you to make sure that you are okay. We can't not take you and start things off wrong with them."
"I know, Jake, and I'm sorry that I brought them back here. Seeing all these kids, our kids, knowing they phased, it makes me worry that them being back is only going to make things worse."
"I don't know if it will or not, honey, and maybe they won't stay, but you're happy here, right, you don't want to go back to them? You don't want them to stay, do you?"
It hurt Bella, that there was even the slightest quiver in his voice when had asked that question. Did he really doubt that she was back for good?
"Jake," Bella pulled his face closer to hers, "I don't want to go anywhere ever again; I need you to realize that, the only place that I want to be, for the rest of my life, is right here, with you. I don't want to be with them. I've been with them long enough. I don't want to be away from you or my family and friends ever again, you need to understand that there's nothing that could make me leave you ever again, nothing."
Jake turned his head and kissed the palm of Bella's right hand. He smiled. "Okay, honey." He still didn't sound reassured, though.
Gritting her teeth, Bella jerked Jake's face back toward her own. "Not okay, Jake." You need to know that you are the only one that I want to be with, and no one else. Her palms gripped his face harder, pushing her emotions towards him, the relief and happiness she felt the moment when she thought it was him before CJ attacked her, the love and desire she felt when he had met her at the Cullen's that night, the pain she felt when Jake had walked away from her when she told him about Thomas, the relief when he came back for her, the panic she felt when he wanted to put her down last night to phase, and the hurt when he told her he couldn't stay last night with her. Then the overwhelming calming feeling she had, last night as she slept, the confusion she had behind the calm feeling, the utter joy she felt when she woke up this morning to find herself wrapped up in his body. She showed him everything, every emotion she'd felt since she came back.
Don't you see, Jake, all I am living for right now is you and the kids, and nothing will ever make me want to leave you ever again.
Jake shook his head, while softly grabbing her hands from his face. He kissed each palm and then her lips, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug, "I know, honey," Jake whispered into her hair.
Bella felt the wolves before she heard them, she wasn't sure why, but ever so slowly they began making their way out of the woods into Billy's front yard. When CJ and Ali came from the side of the house, Bella felt an overwhelming sense of home cover her like a blanket. Once all the wolves were standing in a tight circle around her and Jake, he stood, placing Bella on her feet beside him.
Just before he spoke Bella felt her skin prickle, and the hair on her arms stand on end, the heat that was coming off of Jake's arms seemed to grow hotter, and she could feel a slight vibration coming off of him. Standing at his full height, Jake took a breath in preparation, "We're meeting the Cullens in the same clearing we were in last night, they want to meet all of the pack. I want each of the pups standing behind their parents once we get there, and I'm placing an order for none of the pups to phase."
"I'm not having my kids' only defense taken away from them, Jake." Paul ground out, while moving to stand in front of Will and Tanner.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Jake took a step forward, "Would you rather them phase and attack a Cullen and start a war? They've never been around this many vampires at once, you know it could happen, Paul."
Paul's lip rose just slightly, showing his teeth, before Jake growled a warning low in his throat, "I know what I'm doing, Paul. My kids are going to be right there, too, nothing is going to happen to them. Just keep them behind you, and let me deal with the Cullens."
With that the she-wolves walked into the woods, while the rest of the pack stayed at the front porch, waiting for them to phase. There was a low yip from behind the house. The pack moved as one toward the backyard. Bella stopped, when she saw Leah, Ali and another wolf facing the house. Walking over to the stoop, Bella sat down, and waited for Jake to return. The wolf Bella thought was Ali walked over and nudged her to get up, and once standing the wolf nudged her again toward the woods.
Stepping into the woods, Bella's breath caught. The wolves were dotted all over - the pack was huge, just as Ali had told her. All of them were standing in the same V formation they had been in the night before. With another push from Ali, Bella bumped into Jake's snout. With a jerk of his wolfy head, Jake lowered himself to the ground. Bella let her hand run between his ears to the scruff of his neck, before gripping on the fur and throwing her leg over Jake's back; he grunted. "Very funny, Jake." He and a couple of the wolves behind him snorted at Bella's reaction.
Laying her body flat against his back, she jerked his fur before yelling 'Giddy up!,' which earned her another shared snort between him and the other wolves.
Jake stood then, and bounded off into the woods. At first, Bella was shocked at Jake's speed, the last time she had rode through the woods on Jake he was fast, but not this fast, and when Bella actually paid attention, the height difference from then and now was huge. As they were flying through the woods, Bella turned her head to the left, and she saw Leah's smooth form running right alongside them, and her ears were pressed tight to her head. Bella could clearly see the muscles working in her legs as she pushed her body forward.
When Jake slowed to a trot, Bella thought they were close, but then he hunkered down and sprung, the feeling of weightlessness made Bella yelp and squeeze her eyes shut. It was only when they landed, and she felt drops of water on her face, that she open her eyes. They had just crossed a creek, which meant that they were close. She wondered, then, if the Cullens would be there waiting for them, or if the pack was going to get there ahead of time. She worried about what Jake's reaction was going to be, when he saw Edward, what Emmett's reaction was going to be when he saw her.
Jake stopped, and he lowered himself to the ground so that Bella could climb off. He waited for the other wolves to go into the woods and phase before he pushed her toward Embry and his kids with his snout. Jake walked out of the woods, wearing a pair of basketball shorts and no shoes. As he made his way over to Bella, CJ and Ali broke away from the other pups and made their way toward her as well. Bella took a deep breath as she watched her kids walking toward her. CJ walked with the same confidence Jake had, and Ali... the way Ali walked reminded of her of how Alice would seem to float along the ground.
Jake stood beside Bella; he threw an arm over her shoulder as he faced the pack. At Jake's stare, they formed the V Bella was quickly becoming familiar with. When she took note, she realized the wolves were in formation, by rank: Leah to Jake's left, Embry to his right, their kids standing beside them, while Sam and Paul stood in front of their kids, and Jared with his kids then Quil behind them. Seth stood behind Jared, with Collin and Brady beside him.
The hairs on Bella's skin began to raise once again, and the heat coming off of Jake increased; looking at Jake, she knew he was going to give the command before the words slipped from his lips. "None of the pups, including you, Collin and Brady, are to phase, unless I say so."
Bella could see their shoulders slump at the command, but just as quickly they stood back at full height. They hadn't been standing in the clearing long before Collin and Brady started growling. All heads snapped toward the sound, and the entire pack shifted in that direction, with Jake standing at the front. He quickly placed his hand on Bella's hip, and shoved her behind his back.
Bella watched with wide eyes, as the Cullens slowly made their way to the middle of the clearing. Carlisle stood in the front, with Esme at his side, and the couples followed them. Emmett and Rosalie were first, and holding hands. They both were looking in Jake's direction; Bella knew they were searching for her. She noticed that behind Emmett walked Edward, his head almost hung low, not wanting to make eye contact with her. Bella didn't blame him. It had been a long time since she had actually looked at Edward, and even then she couldn't help but be on the verge of panic. On either side of Edward were Alice and Jasper. Alice was nearly dancing in place, trying to keep her cool, while Jasper had a pained look on his face, no doubt from Edward's emotions.
Bella could feel Jake's temperature spike, and his grip on her hip tightened, but at the same time he pulled her nearly flush with his back. Jake's soft growl was a full-on snarl, at this point, and Bella knew then that he had caught sight of Edward as well. Looking to the side, Bella realized that Jake wasn't the only one snarling at the sight of Edward. They all knew by now, that he had broken the treaty, even if it had been done to save Bella's life. What was done was done, and now there was no taking it back.
The Cullens had stopped some twenty feet from the pack of wolves, and all were standing in a line. Jasper's eyes were darting around, almost faster than she could follow them, while both Alice and Emmett shifting back and forth, and Edward and Rosalie stood frozen, not really looking at anything.
"Your numbers have grown drastically, since the last time we were in Forks," Carlisle said, breaking the silence. "I've also noticed that you, Jake, have taken your rightful place as Alpha amongst this pack." He stated, his golden eyes fixed on Jacob.
Jake nodded his head in a yes response. He was still shaking, and Bella's grip on his forearm was so tight that her knuckles began to turn white against his russet skin.
"You might want to calm yourself, mutt, before you get her hurt." All eyes, including Carlisle's, snapped to Edward, at his words.
"What did you say to me?" Jake spat, while taking a step forward and dragging Bella along with him.
Edward's eyes didn't meet Jake's, they were still focused on the trees beyond the pack. "I said you might want to calm yourself, before you get her hurt."
"You want to talk to me about hurting her? Are you sure that's something you really want to do?"
"All that matters is her safety."
"Her safety?" Jake roared out. "You are the one that bit her over and over for a year, and you want to talk about safety! Your venom is still in her and she is sick because of it, sick because of you!" Jake said, thrusting a finger at Edward.
Leah stepped forward, snarling, "You broke the treaty, you shouldn't even be here right now."
Alice dropped into a fighting stance, while hissing at Leah; the wolves began growling at the threat.
Bella fought her way out of Jake's grip, his fingers ripping her shirt as she went. She stepped in front of Jake and threw her hands out to each side, shielding him. "Stop! This is not what we're here for. Edward did break the treaty, we all know that, but he saved me, too. If he hadn't done what he did I wouldn't be here today." Turning to Jake, she shoved her hands in the front pocket of her hoodie, "Are you going to punish him for saving my life, Jake, is that what you're going to do?"
Jake's eyes darted between Bella's questioning ones and Edward's form. He walked past her, hand outstretched toward Edward, and when Edward's eyes snapped to Jake's he too took a step forward. There was a collective gasp behind Jake as he went; the surprise from the pack was obvious to everyone there.
When they were close enough to touch, Jake's outstretched hand quickly balled into a fist; faster than Edward could move, it connected with his jaw. The surprise attack had sent Edward falling to his side, and as Alice rushed forward, Jasper caught her around the waist, stopping her from attacking; Embry was able to stop Leah just in time as well.
Jake stood over Edward, shaking out his now broken knuckles. "It's a truce, from now on, but it will be written that you are to never under any circumstance bite a human again, if you do and we find out about it, we will kill you once and for all."
Edward nodded his head, while slowly making his way back to his feet. Bella could see the anger burning in his eyes at the surprise attack, and his eyes grew darker as Leah spoke.
"I thought you were the one that could read minds. You didn't see that one coming, leech?"
"It was a split-second decision, mutt," Edward sneered in her direction.
Leah began fighting again in Embry's grasp.
"I am sorry to interrupt, but we seem to be getting nowhere. Now, if you don't mind, can we move along with the introductions?" Carlisle stated calmly, while Esme nodded her head in agreement.
"Leah," Bella could feel the deep bass coming from Jake's voice, and her body immediately stopped fighting. Satisfied, Jake turned back to face Carlisle. "As you said before, the pack has grown drastically since you last left. We are still having a problem with nomads in the area; we haven't had anyone phase in over a year, but all the younger ones you see here had phased at the same time."
Esme shook her head sadly, while walking toward Jake, "We are truly sorry that the presence of our kind keeps causing your youth to transform."
Jake crossed his arms back over his chest, and nodded his head, "We can tell that your numbers haven't changed."
"No, our coven is the same size as it has been." Carlisle stated, while fanning his hand to his side.
"I don't know the best way to go about doing this, the younger pack members need to know your scent so they don't accidentally attack while on patrol if they run into one of you in the woods. They know the lines marked out by the treaty, but since you have been gone we have been running the border of the reservation and Forks."
"What, you want to walk by and sniff us out like the dogs that you are?" Rosalie said, while flicking dirt from her nail toward Jake.
Bella felt his body tense, and then he slowly relaxed. "Well it was your idea, Blondie, unless you would rather get attacked in the woods while you're out killing Bambi."
"It sounds reasonable enough, if you agree and are comfortable, Jacob; I think it would be best if we were able to recognize your pack as well."
"They all smell like wet dog to me," Rosalie muttered under her breath.
As the wolves slowly began moving out of the V behind Jake, Ali and CJ were the only ones left, when they both looked at Jake he nodded his head while grabbing Bella's hand. Lacing his fingers with hers, he slowly started walking toward the Cullens.
Then, in the next instant, everything changed.
Looking into his eyes, Ali's world shifted. Instantly, her heart felt like it was in a vice, the pressure on her chest was like one she had never known. It was painful, but at the same time if felt so right; warmth was washing over her body, like a slow wave lapping at the shore, and when her body lurched forward, she found relief from the pain then ever so slowly had created the vice-like grip on her heart. The pain turned into cables, cables that were soon reaching out toward the man her eyes were now locked on.
Ali couldn't help what her body was doing, all she knew was that the closer she got to him the less tension on her heart. Her eyes never left his, as she moved forward; it was then that she noticed him moving toward her as well. This was it he was her imprint, her reason for existing, her soul mate, she could have sworn that she had whispered it, but the blood pumping in her ears drowned everything out, even the growls coming from her pack; the command from her Alpha to stop had also gone unnoticed.
He, too, was in a trance, and he couldn't hear Jasper gasping for unnecessary breath as he clutched the spot on his chest where a beating heart should have been, nor the panicked screams from Alice as she ran toward her mate to help him. He couldn't feel Emmett's arm grabbing his own, trying to stop his pursuit toward the girl that looked so much like Bella. When they were in reaching distance, he noticed her hand moving toward his face; sucking in a breath he didn't need, he smiled at the familiar scent as he closed his eyes, and waited.
!STOP!
The imprint will be explained first thing in the next chapter, so please no hate reviews. As for other things, my daughter had a chest x-ray when they found out about her heart murmur, and there was a Lion King reference in this chapter, did anyone catch it? If not here is a link for you to watch http:/ / yhZ0TKdgJGg