Stephenie Meyer owns it all. We just borrow.

Thanks to my lovely betas, Squeaky Zorro and Chloe Cougar, and my prereader, Content1, for all their hard work and support.

I'd just like to say thank you to all the readers who take the time to review. I'm so glad you've been enjoying the story…especially the last half a dozen or so chapters where things have finally started happening. ;)

Almost forgot…Once Bitten is up for a Shimmer Award, (Snowflake Quarter) in the Tale Category for best AU. Voting opens tomorrow. :D

Updated: Friday, January 20th 2012
Words: 3000

Chapter 37

The Chief

EPOV

While the temptation to remain wrapped in Bella's arms was incredibly strong, I wasn't about to ignore Alice's warning to be back before daybreak…not this time. While sneaking glances at my beautiful wife's naked body, I collected the backpack I'd tossed aside before our hunt and pulled out the clothes that Alice had wisely thought to provide us. Bella looked adorably relaxed, lounging against one half of the boulder we'd destroyed, a satisfied smile curving her cupid lips while she watched me unashamedly.

I still couldn't quite believe how forcefulI'd been with her, tearing her clothes off without hesitation. The urge to claim her had been so strong that I'd not even considered denying myself. I couldn't get the image out of my mind of my literally takingher from behind…not uncaring—never that—but not gently, tenderly, like the ways we'd made love earlier. It shouldn't have surprised me, considering what I knew of how mated vampires behaved when they hunted together, but our reaction to one another had unsettled me. Having spent so many years suppressing and denying my vampiric nature, it was a shock to find myself giving in to it so thoroughly and not just enjoying but reveling in the outcome. Talking to Carlisle about it would probably be helpful, though I was fairly certain he'd tell me to listen to Bella's advice and enjoy all the different aspects of our relationship…and each other.

Putting off my tendency to overthink things, something Bella had already accused me of the first time we'd made love and that I'd heard from my family many times before, I took a deep breath and determined to stop worrying, not wanting to spoil our time together.

Getting dressed took us a while as we were easily distracted with sweet, lingering and increasingly passionate kisses, our wandering hands hindering more than helping each other in the process. It felt so good to be with her like this: the freedom, the intimacy, the sheer joy of knowing that she was mine and always would be. After coming so close to dying—to never seeing her again—the relief from my unexpected reprieve was overwhelming. Once I put my concerns over my loss of control aside, I couldn't keep the grin off my face.

I was one very, very happy vampire.

The thought surprised me, and I realized that for one of the first times since Carlisle changed me, I was actually glad to be a vampire. One lifetime with Bella would never be enough.

We made our way back to the house at a considerably slower pace than we'd left it, stopping every so often to exchange more kisses…caresses…smiles.

"What?" Bella asked, giggling, when I kept her pinned up against a tree for a while just so that I could gaze into her stunningly beautiful face.

"You," I answered with a shrug. "I can't quite believe that you're mine."

"Well I am," she whispered huskily, drawing my head down to softly brush our lips together. "Forever."

Sighing, we held each other close for a while and then turned to walk further along the track.

"Should we hurry it up?" she asked after a moment, sounding a little worried. "I wouldn't want to come across those…um…humans Alice mentioned."

"It's okay; I'm listening out and we're not that far from home. We circled back when I sensed that herd of deer."

"Oh." Bella nodded, her expression thoughtful. "I was just so happy to be running with you again that I wasn't really focusing on anything else. I didn't notice the deer until we'd stopped. I guess I've got a lot to learn," she added, sounding a little disconsolate.

"Hey! You're doing incredibly well," I reassured her. "Besides…I cheated. I heard their thoughts before I picked up the scent, so I knew which way to run. We were upwind at first, so I brought us around or we'd have spooked them with our scents."

"You heard their thoughts?" Bella stopped and faced me. "You hear the thoughts of animals as well as humans?"

"If I concentrate." I shrugged. "It's no big deal," I explained at her horrified look. "It's more impressions than anything else…just background noise that I can block out easily enough."

Bella's expression lightened, but then her brow furrowed and she turned to continue walking.

"What are you thinking?" I asked, wondering, not for the first time, what it would be like to hear her thoughts. Most people's thoughts were annoying to listen to, but I had a feeling that I would like what I heard in Bella's mind. Seeing myself reflected in her thoughts when we made love would be distracting, but knowing how I was affecting her could be helpful. Not that we were doing too badly with the way things were, I mused while I waited for her to answer, smiling at the memory of the pleasure we'd found in each other's arms.

"I guess the cat's out of the bag," she murmured after a while, and my smile faded. "Or I suppose I should say…the vampire. Jake knows about me now, along with the rest of the wolf pack. And then there's Harry, of course. Do you think he's going to be okay?" she asked, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulder as we walked. "Poor Sue, she'll be so worried, and she's got so much to deal with. I'm surprised she hasn't come to the house to check on Seth."

Gasping, Bella pulled me to a halt. "Do you think Sue has the wolf gene like Harry? What if she doesn't and she smells human? I still haven't smelled an ordinary person to know how I'll react!"

"It's all right. We'll talk to Sam and tell him to give us plenty of warning before Seth's mother comes to the house. You and I can go down to the basement or come out here for a run to be on the safe side," I suggested, and Bella sighed with relief.

We kept walking for a while before she spoke again, her voice small and shaky.

"Do you think they'll tell Charlie that I'm alive?" she asked, and I couldn't miss the tentative hope in her tone. "They've kept the secret about the wolves from him for all this time, but…"

"It's still not safe for him to know," I reminded her, hating the sadness my answer would bring her. "And Sam won't want their secret revealed to anyone outside of the tribe."

"Charlie's practically a member of the tribe," Bella muttered belligerently, and I gave her a sympathetic look.

"I know, sweetheart. But if the Volturi ever found out that he knew about us…" I let my voice trail off, and her shoulders drooped. Neither of us mentioned the issue of what the Volturi would make of an entire pack of shapeshifters. Now that the Quileutes knew about Bella—and me—I imagined we'd be meeting with them soon to arrange safe passage out of the area to decrease the risk of drawing the Volturi's attention to their existence.

We made the rest of the journey in silence, increasing our pace to a run so that it only took a few minutes to arrive at the river that ran behind our house. Just as the first soft rays of morning sun topped the trees, we leaped across the river together, the smiles returning to our faces. Then I heard a jumble of thoughts and a vehicle approaching the turn off to the property.

Sam's gonna kill me for this, but it's ridiculous to think we could keep this from Charlie. Bella's his daughter! He has the right to know she's alive, but those damned bloodsuckers better not think they can hurt him. I wanted him angry with the demon that did this to Bella, but I wish he hadn't brought his gun.

Recognizing Jacob's thoughts along with the hazy but clearly panicked thoughts of the man driving the vehicle he was traveling in—a police cruiser—I grabbed Bella and spun her behind me, crouching defensively even though we were still fifty yards from the house.

"What is it? What's happening?" she demanded. But before I could answer, the car drove up to the front of the house, the noise capturing her attention.

"Bella!" her father shouted as he alighted from the car, his voice carrying easily from the other side of the house.

She froze, her eyes shooting to my face.

"Bella!" he called again, the anguish in his voice unmistakable.

With a loud cry, she lunged against my hold, and it took all my strength to stop her from breaking free.

"Wait, sweetheart, please," I begged even as she struggled frantically in my arms. My only hope was to be able to reason with her, and for that I needed her to listen.

"He's human, Bella. He won't smell like the wolves…you won't be able to resist the smell of his blood."

"He's my father!" she screamed at me, and then her voice broke on a sob. To my relief, Jasper and Emmett arrived to help me hold her, Jasper emanating waves of soothing calm.

"You can't keep me from him," Bella sobbed against my shoulder. "He knows I'm alive…you have to let me see him. I won't hurt him, I promise…I promise."

A gunshot sounded, and I looked up to see Chief Swan with a rifle in his hands aimed directly at me.

"You get the hell away from my daughter!" he shouted.

Jacob Black stood to his side, his smug expression fading to be replaced with anger when he saw the three of us holding Bella back.

"Let her go, you bastards!" he shouted, running toward us, the chief close behind him. I knew the instant Bella picked up her father's scent by the way her entire body tensed, every muscle bunching as a growl erupted from her throat.

"Oh, shit," Jasper swore, and I really couldn't blame him. If Bella used her talent against us, we wouldn't have a hope of holding her.

"Hold your breath!" I commanded, shaking her shoulders until she glanced up at me. "Bella, listen to me. It's your father…you don't want to hurt him. I know it burns, but you need to hold your breath…now!"

To my relief she obeyed me, her eyes wide and frantic, swinging between my face and that of her father, the growl still rumbling involuntarily in her chest. Rose and Alice arrived and intercepted the chief a mere twenty feet from where we were holding his daughter, stopping him from coming any closer. He struggled against them in vain, his thoughts revealing his bewilderment at their phenomenal strength.

"If we can't hold Bella, you two carry her father away from here," Jasper instructed the girls, his words adding to the chief's confusion while the rest of us waited to see if Bella would be able to bring her bloodlust under control.

Jacob came to a halt just before he reached us, finally taking in Bella's struggle and the way her eyes blazed a fiery red.

"What's going on?" he demanded. "She was fine with Harry…she carried him in her arms, for crying out loud! I don't understand."

"Harry Clearwater has the same wolf genes as you and the other pack members, so his blood wasn't appealing," I ground out. "But Bella's father is human, and resisting the call of his blood is like having a red-hot poker shoved down her throat!"

"I didn't know," Jacob muttered defensively, his expression sheepish.

He'd gone to Bella's father and told him everything, even going so far as to phase in front of him. The chief wasn't sure what to believe. All he wanted was his daughter back and the person responsible for hurting her and keeping her away from him punished severely, namely…me.

"Let go of me!" he shouted. "What have you done to my daughter?" His voice broke on his final word and Bella whimpered, one hand reaching toward him.

"Daddy?" she cried and then clamped her hand over her mouth and nose, her throat moving as she swallowed repeatedly, no doubt clearing the venom pooling there.

To all our relief, Carlisle and Esme arrived, breaking through the trees and arriving at Chief Swan's side so quickly that it looked to him as if they had materialized out of thin air. Despite being startled, he remained remarkably composed, though the impressions I received from his thoughts made it clear that there wasn't a whole lot more he could take.

Carlisle reached a hand to place on his shoulder and nodded for the girls to release him.

"It's all right, Charlie. Bella's fine. They're not hurting her, just holding her back so that she doesn't accidentally harm you. She's what we call a newborn, and her control around humans is very limited."

"You want to try that again in English?" the Chief growled, his eyes never leaving Bella's face. "And while you're at it, how about you explain to me how my daughter and your son are still alive, and what the hell this cockamamie story is about you being a family of vampires?"

"Of course," Carlisle answered calmly. "But let's give Bella a chance to calm down first, as I'm sure she'd like to be included in the conversation. She wants to see you—she has all along—and she doesn't want to hurt you, but this is asking a lot of a newborn, even one with as exceptional control as Bella has demonstrated."

From his thoughts I knew that Carlisle was addressing his words to Bella more than her father. I had my doubts about the wisdom of her remaining in proximity the chief, but Carlisle wanted it to be her choice, and he had confidence in her ability to master her bloodlust. I just hoped he was right.

"Bella, sweetheart?" I murmured, and her eyes shot back to my face. "Do you think you're going to be able to control your thirst? We only just hunted, so you don't actually need the blood, remember? I know you want to talk to your father, but if it's too difficult for you, we'll put some space between the two of you, and you can talk to him over the phone…for now…until it doesn't hurt as much." My last words were directed toward the Chief who was about to object to my suggestion.

"What do you mean, hurt?" he asked, worriedly. "Who's hurting you, Bella?"

Bella closed her eyes for a moment, swallowing hard. Then clasping her hands over mine where I held her around the waist, and with a glance to Jasper, she opened her mouth and took a tentative breath. Her whole body shuddered, and I wanted to whisk her away from the source of her torment.

"We've got to get her away from here," I growled, but Bella patted my hands to hold me in place.

"It's all right," she whispered hoarsely, one hand rising to her throat. "I'm going to be all right…it just hurts so much."

"What hurts?" the Chief demanded again, trying to move closer only to be held in place by Carlisle's hand.

How the hell are they so strong?

I heard the thought clearly, slowly becoming more attuned to the way the chief's mind worked.

"It's all right…I can explain," Bella rasped, her voice like gravel. Then she looked to me, an appeal in her eyes, though Carlisle answered for me.

"Bella hasn't been exposed to the scent of human blood since becoming a vampire, and it is very difficult for her to resist…painful even," Carlisle explained, and the Chief did a double take at his words, his eyes flashing to Bella's face as he catalogued her changed appearance.

"I don't know what Jacob's told you," Carlisle continued. "But my family and I don't feed from humans. We hunt and drink the blood of animals, which is what Bella has been doing to survive since she became one of us."

"Why are her eyes red?" Chief Swan asked, and Bella whimpered and turned to press her face against my chest. I resisted the urge to glare at her father for hurting her with his words, and focused on comforting Bella while Carlisle explained the reason for her red eyes and about the other changes she'd undergone: her speed, strength, virtual immortality and drastically changed diet.

I could hear from his thoughts that Bella's father didn't want to accept this new reality, but he'd seen too much this afternoon to deny it outright.

"Bella?" he called softly when Carlisle had finished. "It's all right, sweetheart. I'm here now. We'll get this straightened out, I promise, and then you can come home."

"Oh, Dad," Bella cried, and turned to face him. "It's not that simple. You can't fix this, but I'm so glad you're here…I'm so glad you know that I'm alive."

"Me, too, Bells, me, too," he murmured.

"You can change her back, can't you?" He turned and challenged Carlisle. "She's not going to be stuck like this forever."

"I'm sorry." Carlisle spread his hands wide. "There's no way to reverse the transformation once it has occurred."

"Not that you know of. What about the authorities? Surely there are scientists researching this stuff who'd have some ideas."

The reaction to his words was predictable, and I flinched at the cacophony of outraged thoughts and comments that erupted. Even Jacob, who'd remained quiet until now and was seriously questioning the wisdom of his actions, leaped up and shouted his opinion. An image of Bella, strapped down on gurney and being experimented on formed in the chief's mind, and I shuddered, holding her closer.

"All right…all right…" Chief Swan backed up a step. "I get the message…no authorities. But one thing I want to know," he growled, looking directly at me, "is what the hell he's doing with his arms around my daughter?"

~OB~

I'd love to hear what you thought of Charlie's arrival on the scene. Not sure if I'd want to be in Edward's shoes right now. ;)

xxx TLSue