EPOV

I wanted to tell Bella everything.

I nearly did let all of my plans slip when I walked her to her front door earlier this evening. I didn't want there to be secrets between us, but I knew she would protest my meeting with that animal she once called a friend.

His words had obviously struck her hard, more than he could have possibly known.

"Okay," he said, walking out of the brush, tying up the strings on his sweatpants that he had tied to his leg before he had phased into a wolf. I always laughed when I saw the wolves running around the forest with clothes tied to their ankles like a bunch of silly little twerps. I could tell he had keys and a cell phone in one of the pockets. "I agreed to meet with you, against the better judgment of the others, so what do you want?"

"Look, Jacob. I don't enjoy your presence any more than you enjoy mine. I'm not here for your stimulating company. I'm here to negotiate with you where Bella is concerned. You already know the alterations to the treaty that would reap the greatest benefits for her. And I'm not talking about how much they would benefit me, Jacob; I'm only worried about Bella here. It would be best for her to be around her parents and friends throughout the duration of their lives."

"And she can have that, you filthy blood sucker! All she has to do is not get bitten by one of your blood-craving mouths and she'll be just fine."

"You already know her stance on that matter. She is not likely to back down from what she wants. You've known her all your life. Are you really going to tell me that she isn't stubborn? And remember that this is what she wants. None of us are forcing her into doing anything."

"Like I give a shit, you filthy monster. You should tell her no. You shouldn't give her the option!"

"Oh, I know that you do give a shit, mongrel. I know you do because of your deep-rooted friendship with her."

His eyes narrowed and he quickly walked toward me, raising a finger at me. "Now you look here, you ugly, pale, cold cannibal! I am concerned for Bella not because I like her, but because I love her. And I know that she can love me, too. I may not be able to offer her your money or your length of life, but I can offer her love and warmth and babies. Can you do that, Edward? Can you offer her that?"

I gritted my teeth to maintain my composure. I knew that there would be very little good coming out of this rendezvous between two enemies if at least one of us could not remain in control. Though, in all honestly, I wanted nothing more than to slam him to death against one of the trees at this point.

"Jacob," I said, taking a deep breath and rolling my head around on my neck, trying to find a way to remain as calm as possible. "You cannot change what Bella wants. Bella wants to become one of us. She has already made her decision."

"She might change her mind," he sneered.

"I don't think so."

"Who the hell gives a shit what you think or don't think, blood sucker?"

"You ought to, Jacob," I said, pinching the bridge of my nose as I tried my hardest to not lose my temper at his negligence. "I know that you know that I have Bella's best interest at heart."

"There's nothing I can do about it anyway, you know. I don't know why you bother to waste my time on this…"

"That's a lie, Jacob Black. We both know what you have the power to do here! By default you're the Alpha of your tribe. What you say goes. That's just as true for the treaty as it is for general order barking."

He tilted his head and furrowed his brow. He didn't know that I could read his mind. He didn't know that I already knew what they all knew after that little stunt earlier in our home when Jacob gave Sam orders.

"It is your right to change the treaty if you want to," I continued. "It's one that you cannot relinquish fully, even if you declared Sam the leader. No matter what, he will always remain under your control."

He glared at me for a moment before arguing. "I don't have the power to rewrite it."

"You may not have the authority to change exactly what the treaty say, but we all know that the treaty only holds any force if there is weight behind it. Those of you who can change into wolves, you are the ones who carry out the consequences of said treaty. Therefore, if you were to simply order them all to never harm Bella, she would never be harmed. It really is just that simple, isn't it? Bella knows that you have the power to do this for her. If you tell her you can't, she'll know you're hiding like a coward behind a false excuse."

He knew he was defeated. And he may not have meant for me to know, but his thoughts revealed his secret. He never was going toallow any of them to hurt her after she changed. Even after she became a vampire he was going to wait for her to change her mind and fall in love with him instead of me. He would never age if he didn't stop transforming, and he would simply wait it out.

"Is it that you suppose you would still be attracted to after she changed," I asked. "How could you hope a vampire would fall in love with a werewolf? Or why would you suppose you could remain in love with her after she has become your natural enemy?"

"How did you..." He continued glaring at me. "Never mind."

Just then, his cell phone rang. He picked it up to look at it. I could see through his eyes that it was Bella.

He answered and I listened. She wanted to meet with him and she didn't want any of us to know about it. I found it ironic that she thought she was going to have a secret meeting with the very same person that I was at this very moment having a secret meeting with. I tried to not be frustrated with her for not telling me her plan since I didn't tell her mine. But things were different with her. She was only human. If Jake changed into a wolf and took a swipe at me, it wouldn't mean much. But if he ever hurt her then she would never heal.

I continued eavesdropping and gathered from their short exchange that they would be picking up his car at the hospital. I also gathered that they would not be going to the reservation.

"I'm not stupid," he sneered at me, placing his phone back in his pocket.

"What do you mean? I never said that you were. Have I done something to imply with my actions…"

"Shut up. You know what I mean. I know you heard everything she said. Don't follow us. She wants a private meeting with me and that's what she'll get."

"I am also not stupid," I said, trying my best to suppress a growl. "I know you will try to talk her out of her decided course."

"Damn straight, demon." He took a few steps toward me.

"I am not stupid," I continued. "I am also not worried." I took a few steps toward him.

She loves me, Jacob Black, and she will never love you. The sooner you get that through your thick skull, the better off we will all be.

We both began to growl lowly at one another. It was instinctual. Our bodies were begging our minds to allow us to fight to the death this very moment.

"I mean it," he snapped. "Don't follow us. Don't listen to us. I won't hurt her, you know, so you can't follow us with that sorry-ass excuse. I definitely won't kill her, like you would."

There was no point in arguing with him on this matter. I would trust Bella to make her choices. I would love her enough to let her make consequences for herself. It is true that I worried deeply for her safety, but what could I really do?

"Just please," I said as kindly as I could manage. "Please, don't lose your control. Please. Don't hurt Bella."

"I told you," he scolded, "I'm not the one she needs protecting from." He stormed off into the woods.

I decided to keep my word. I walked back to my car and waited. I'd hoped to hear from Bella sooner than later.