Wolf Boy

Disclaimer; all characters and copyright belong to SM.

A/N-thank you for the kind reviews!

Part Thirty-Four

A few days later;

Bella woke up as she felt someone get on the bed. She opened her eyes groggily and looked over to see Jacob getting in bed with her. She threw her arms around him. She had never been so happy to see anyone in her life. He hugged her back gently, stroking her hair, rocking her gently as he pressed his lips to her neck, the same as he always did when she was upset or anxious. Bella tangled her hands in his hair, not wanting to let him go for a second. She never wanted him away from her again.

"It's okay now, Bells. Everything's fine. How are you feeling?" He asked softly as he pulled back to look at her. His gorgeous brown eyes were full of concern. Bella smiled and kissed him again, pressing herself to him tightly. Jacob smiled back, relieved to see that she was calm again.

"I'm fine. I'm just happy now that you're back." She promised, tracing her fingers down his beautiful face. He ran his hand through her hair, just looking at her tenderly for a couple of minutes. "So, what happened with Riley?" She asked after a while. "Don't keep me in suspense."

Jacob had been gone for three long days. Riley had been in constant contact, giving the pack a heads up on all of Victoria's movements. It was his way of gaining their trust, showing them that he was on their side when it came to her. With this new inside information, the pack was able to thwart the red-head's intrusions onto their lands, which angered her, and nearly cost her life on one occasion when the pack appeared out of nowhere and trapped her against the side of a cliff. It was only by sheer luck that she was able to make a mad scramble up the sheer sides and escape back into the sea.

To establish more about Victoria's plans Jacob had secretly travelled to Seattle with his wingmen, Quil and Embry. The three of them met up with Riley at a pre-arranged location as they sought to find out what had happened to Trent. So far Riley had been unable to pinpoint where Trent was. He knew that Victoria had done something to the guy, but wasn't sure where she was keeping him. Riley said she was becoming increasingly mistrustful of him and he guessed it wouldn't be too long before she tired of his company and killed him, replacing him with the newly turned Trent.

"We looked in all the locations that Riley had been to with Victoria. There was some evidence that she had been around some of those places recently, but we couldn't find any traces of Trent. Riley seems to think she's hiding him somewhere closer to Forks."

Bella gulped, trying to swallow down her fear that Trent could be somewhere on their doorstep, waiting to catch them out. His personality was so much like James' used to be. He would the perfect replacement mate for Victoria. Just the thought of it made her feel sick. If the sly red-head had indeed turned Trent, then it would only give him greater powers and able him to complete his vendetta against Jacob.

"I don't want you stressing about this, Bells." Jacob buried his face in the side of her neck. "We've got this covered. There are more of us then there are of them."

Bella let out the breath she didn't realise she had been holding and tried to relax. Jacob pulled back to look at her. "You must promise me you won't do anything reckless again, Bells."

"I've already promised." Bella responded indignantly. "We've spoken about this. I've learned my lesson."

Jacob's hand trailed down to her now empty stomach. The pain of losing the baby was still raw even as they both tried to move on from it. "Okay, I'm just going to say this one last time. Don't ever put yourself in danger like that again. You never put yourself in danger again. I don't care what the reason is; it's not a good enough reason for you to get hurt. Do you understand me?" He growled.

Bella nodded; she could see he meant it. She could see he wanted to say a lot more than that too, but he was holding back because of the baby. "I understand." She whispered, looking guilty. She thought about the time she had managed to slip away from Jasper and Alice at the airport when James had convinced her that he had Renee hostage at her old ballet studio in Phoenix. She had recklessly put her own life in danger in an attempt to save someone she loved, believing in her mantra that to die in the place of someone you loved was worth the sacrifice.

It wasn't. Because she now learned that those left behind were the ones who suffered. And Jacob had suffered enough.

"I love you, Jake, so much." He was the most important thing to her. This whole situation just proved to her just how much she loved him. She would do anything for him, even keeping herself safe and not putting herself at risk.

"I love you too, Bells." He murmured, bending his head and kissing her gently. By the time he pulled away they were both breathless.

Bella was in the kitchen making dinner when Charlie came back from work. The fishing trip with the others had gone well, though he was surprised when Jacob had bailed at the last minute. He was full of questions when he returned but Bella assured him it was because Jacob was worried about her and that she was perfectly fine. The police chief made sure to keep close to home for the next few days, not really fully believing her that she was coping emotionally with the loss of the baby. He had even cancelled a date with Connie so he could be at home to keep a close eye on her.

Bella was well aware of what he was doing, and she loved him for it, but she also loved the fact that he was dating and enjoying life again. She didn't want to get in the way of that. She was determined to show him that she really was okay. That didn't mean that the sadness was going away any time soon, but she was dealing with it. There was no way she was letting herself fall back into that dark pit of depression she had descended into when Edward had left.

"You didn't need to cook, kiddo. I could have ordered takeout or something." Charlie chided her as he strolled into the kitchen to find several pans bubbling away on the stove.

"I do need to. I invited Connie and Colin over for dinner." Bella gave him a warm smile as she tried to ward off his concerned questions.

"Bells, you're taking on too much." Charlie was wearing his worried frown. "Let me call Connie. She'll understand."

Bella was rescued by a knock at the door. "Too late!" She stated brightly, tapping her father on the chest lightly. "They're here." Charlie gave her a long look but she ignored it, gently shoving him toward the hallway. "You can't leave them standing on the doorstep." She said as they knocked on the door again.

Charlie had no choice but to do her bidding. Bella smiled to herself as she peeked into the hall and watched Charlie open the door and greet Connie with a kiss. She giggled when she saw the disgusted look on Colin's face. He edged around his mother and into the house. Bella decided to be kind and rescue the embarrassed teen.

"Hey, Colin! I could do with some help in here." She called out to him.

"Gladly." Colin said in relief as he eagerly ran to help her.

Bella couldn't keep the smile off her face as she watched Charlie and Connie interact at the dinner table. They were so cute and sweet. They were like a couple of soppy teenagers in love. She got a kick out of listening them finish each other's sentences and exchange loving glances. It wasn't so much fun for poor Colin who seemed to want to gag every time he looked at the love sick expression on his mother's face. Bella could only guess that was the last thing a teenage boy wanted to see. But she knew deep down that he was happy for Connie and Charlie, just like she was. He had really bonded with Charlie and Bella hoped that her father would stop worrying about her so much and finally put a ring on Connie's finger before she got away.

"Right, you boys clear the table." Bella ordered, grabbing Connie's arm and pulling her toward the lounge. "I am so happy for you two." She said to Connie when they were alone. "Thank you for making my Dad so happy."

Connie looked at her breathlessly, a nervous smile playing about her lips. "That is such a lovely thing to say, Bella. And, it kind of leads up to what I want to ask you."

Bella gazed at Connie, feeling perplexed. "Are you okay, Connie?"

"I'm not sure." Connie took a deep breath as if steadying her nerves. "I'm not sure that I'll have the courage to go through with it….and I won't if you think it's a bad idea." She tagged on at the end anxiously.

"What is it, Connie?" Bella was totally curious as to why the older woman was in such a dither.

Connie exhaled deeply again, gazing steadily into Bella's eyes. "I'm going to ask Charlie to marry me." She revealed.

A/N-thanks for reading!