Fanfic Bella's voice, in my head, is always more high pitched and whiny; she never sounds like Kristen Stewart to me. Also, I watched Charlie's Angels the other day. I've always loved the ones with Drew Berrymore, Cameron Diaz, and Lucy Liu. They're easily two of my favorite movies of all time. But this new one? Fucking disgraceful. K-Stew was hot though; she was the highlight of the whole movie. Even though it was fucking disgraceful.

Anyway, onto chapter 21…

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Have you ever been kicked in the chest so hard that you fly off the ground? Me either…until that day. It was an out of body moment as I saw myself flying through the air and then promptly thrown back into my body as my back crashed into a tree. Pain shot through my entire body as the wind was knocked out of me. I held a hand over my belly as I dropped to the ground, the cold, wet snow soaking the side of my body. Fuck, that hurt.

Sometime between Kaya getting thrown into a glass table and me getting roundhouse kicked into next week, we had ended up battling it out outside in broad daylight. Jacob was slowly but surely waking up; every second, I could feel his presence just a little bit more. Bella was fighting with every ounce of rage in her little body and I was matching her blow for blow. It was only when I took a second too long to get back on the offensive that she kicked the fuck out of me. Not a fan of my feet leaving the ground like that.

As shape shifters, we're always supernaturally strong even in human form. But our human forms were not even close to how strong we are when we're wolves. The wolf is designed to destroy vampires; superhuman strength was kind of a bonus. So it was a bit of a surprise at the actual difference in fighting a newborn vamp on two legs. I had to adjust. And I had to adjust fast or she could actually kill me.

"God, you're making this too easy," a velvet smooth voice came from above me. "You're weaker than I thought."

I chuckled gloomily as I rose to my feet, shaking the melting snow from my arm. Bella stood in front of me in all of her glory. Her blood red eyes were eerily playful and excited and her mouth was twitching upward in anticipation. "And you're dumber than I thought," I replied. "You could have killed me already. This could have been over."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I decided that wasn't as much fun. I wanted you to at least see Jacob's new home before I kill you."

I threw my hands up in frustration, "We get it, Bella. He's a trophy. You've already made it perfectly what your endgame is here."

Just say the word, Lee. We'll take this bitch out, Paul said to me. I could feel every single one of them. They were surrounding us, hidden in the trees. Their breathing was quiet, but present. Tactful. They knew what to do if things got bad.

Stand down, I heard Kaya tell him. Let her handle this.

With all due respect, Kaya, as soon as this gets out of hand, I'm ripping her head off and I don't really care what you have to say about it, Seth commented.

No, I argued, sternly, you will wait until I say the word.

Bella took a step toward me. "Then you know why I have to kill you now. You took something away from me. Now I have to get rid of you. Simple as that."

"He was never yours, Bella."

"Beg to differ."

"So, is that why you turned him into a vegetable? Or is it because you know that if he was awake right now, he'd hate you even more than he did before?" I asked, moving in her opposite direction.

Bella shook her head, "No, I just didn't want to hear him talk about you anymore. It took a while to get him down and I know that when I let him wake up, it'll be a fight. But I think over time, he'll see things my way."

Ugh, what a bitch, Kaya commented. I kept my eyes trained on Bella; her fingers kept twitching and I could tell that at any second, she was ready to pounce. "And what's your way, Bella?"

"I just want what's rightfully mine. See, no one told me about this Bond thing. One day, he's telling me that he only sees me and the next it was like I didn't even exist to him anymore," she sneered. "'Leah's so beautiful.' 'Leah is sooo smart.' 'I miss Leah so much.' Ugh, it's disgusting."

"It's almost as if the world doesn't revolve around what you want," I said, shaking my head. "You're pathetic. Just like your husband."

Bella blurred in front of me and reared her fist back before propelling it forward toward my face. She narrowly missed as I quickly shifted to the left before looking to see her fist splinter and force a hole into the tree. Stupid mistake, Leah. All of a sudden, I felt an ice-cold hand squeezing my throat before my feet started to lift off the ground. The pressure in my throat was immediate. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Keep your eyes up, Leah, was echoing in my head. What did Paul always say during training? Someone will always tell you their next move with their eyes. I struggled against her strength as I rushed to figure out what to do. The look in her eyes was so excited. Too excited. "I can feel your pulse quickening," she said as her eyes danced, watching me struggle. "Does it hurt? Don't answer that. I'm going to make you feel the pain that I feel inside."

The voices of the pack were aggressive. Arguing back and forth, asking Kaya when it was time for them to intervene and her insisting that I could handle it. I kind of believed that. But as I was quickly losing control over the situation and feeling myself panic, there it was. The voice. My saving grace. Leah, he said. I'm here. And I need you to listen closely…

And then everything was moving really, really fast. I lifted my arms and brought them down fast, my elbows connecting with the break of her arm and effectively striking right in the middle of Bella's face. She shrieked as her hand freed their grip on my throat, staggering backward to hold her face. Jacob told me to fight her off for as long as possible. He told me that he could feel my fear of her strength and I needed to channel that into survival until he could get to me. Until then, he let me know a couple of weak points for our Bella. And that Paul would guide me through.

Paul, you ready? I asked.

I got you, boss.

I could feel the bruising around my neck but didn't have much of a chance to catch my breath before Bella came at me again. She swung hard, narrowly missing and tripping over herself as I dodged her fist. She was strong and she was fast, but she was still unskilled. Ok, focus, Leah. Keep your eyes up, girl. That's the only way you'll survive this. Bella rushed toward me full force, her eyes wild. You gotta use her power against her, Lee. Strike now.

I nodded and waited until Bella reached for me before snatching her wrist to bring her down and delivering a blow to her torso. Double down, Paul told me. I brought my knee up and heard Bella grunt before I released her arm, whirling around to face her. She growled at me, baring her teeth. Stop defending yourself, Leah. Take control now.

I took a lurching step forward, swinging my fist. Almost like slow motion, I felt the blow hit her face and heard the deafening crack. Was that her face or was that my hand? I didn't think about it. I just swung again, squeezing my eyes shut and feeling my knuckles connect again. Get some distance, Paul advised. I spun around and watched as my expanded foot made her chest concave. Her body ripped through the air before she tumbled into the wet snow. She immediately summersaulted into a crouching position. She launched at me, arms flailing. Block. Parry. Duck. Block, block, duck. Parry. Duck. She was ruthless. Angry. I took a few punches, but I was super conscious of my belly. I contracted my body as she swiped at my stomach. I managed to get a blow or two in, but I couldn't get myself back on offense.

Fuck, what do I do? I projected.

Duck and tackle low, Paul said. His tone was so even. I could tell how focused he was; his energy was itching for a fight.

I blocked three more punches and ducked my body down, wrapping my arms around her middle to tackle her to the ground. We rolled around quite a few times before I found the upper hand. I straddled her waist and wailed on her face. My heart was beating so hard, I could feel it through my whole body. As she swiped her arm upward, I felt myself grabbing it. The sick crack registered first before I realized that I had twisted her arm into an unnatural angle. She shrieked in pain before delivering an excruciating blow to the side of my head with her other arm.

I felt myself gasp as the ringing in my ears took hold of my focus. I was dizzy. My eyes struggled to unblur as I found myself on all fours, crawling away. Lee, are you alright? I could hear, but holy fuck. It was so muffled. Leah, tell us you're ok. Who was talking? And why couldn't I answer?

That's it! I'm getting in there!

I shook my head, trying to get the ringing to stop. "Wait…no, don't…" I mumbled to whoever was talking. The heavy footfalls of one of my wolves vibrated under my hands. It was getting closer…and closer…and closer. Before I could hear a distinct sound of a forceful collision. The snarls and snaps of the wolf's jaw reverberated through the trees, the wind, the air. I started to turn to see what was happening when I heard the undeniable, familiar snap of a bone and then the wolf whining. A flash of sandy brown fur flew over my head before crashing into a boulder. Seth. He whimpered as he struggled to stand again. "Oh my god…"

The snow melted under my hot hands with every inch that I crawled toward my baby brother. I reached for him, feeling his fur between my fingers. I rapidly blinked my eyes to focus them before I started to pat him down, looking for the wound. Where was he hurt? I hastily ran a hand over his torso and sucked my breath in through my teeth as he flinched. The ringing finally stopped, and I could hear the high-pitched wheezing of my brother's wolf as I examined him. Seth's breath was labored as I felt a crack in his ribs. Then another. And another. At least two of his ribs were broken—at least. He whined again before closing his eyes. His pain shot through me like an arrow to the chest. "Oh, brat, what did you do?" I whispered.

I'm sorry, Lee, I just wanted to help, Seth projected.

Guys, I need someone to get Seth somewhere safe. I ran a hand over his soft fur as Seth continued to struggle to take deep breaths.

Eyes up, Leah! Pay attention! Paul barked at me. I whipped my head around just as an irate Bella crouched to attack again. "I think it's cute that you brought your little wolves with you to watch the show," she commented. "You couldn't even come here by yourself to confront me."

"They're my family; they'd do anything for me," I replied, watching her closely. "It's too bad you don't know anything about family."

"I have the perfect family," she hissed at me.

"Hm," I hummed. "You sure?"

She took a menacing step toward me. "I have a husband who would kill to keep me happy, a beautiful, perfect daughter, and, of course, my Jake who will continue to rest peacefully until I decide to wake him up."

I smirked as I laced my fingers in front of me, "So, where are they?" I asked.

Bella blinked, "W-what?"

I shrugged my shoulders and looked around, "Where are they?" I repeated and watched as she faltered a little bit. "Where's Edward? He seemed pretty flustered when he had a little run-in with the wolves earlier. I hope nothing happened to him."

I was bluffing. I actually had no idea where Edward was. He had managed to shake Ephraim and the others when he realized that Jacob wasn't actually running away. But I can't lie—I'm surprised he didn't come back to the house to save Bella. After everything, I was surprised that Edward was not fighting yet another battle for her. That was kind of like the running theme for a while, wasn't it? Bella gets threatened, does something stupid that makes her vulnerable, Edward saves the day, and then they skip off into the woods or some shit because he can't walk in the sun. Is this somehow different? When the girl you love is, all of a sudden, the hunter and not the hunted, how does that change your role in your partnership?

It wasn't the best idea of poke the bear right now. Bella was unstable and had already shown that she was set on killing me. But she thought killing me was like squashing a bug or removing a rock from the bottom of her shoe. Just something to remove so that she could get her life back to her version of equilibrium. It didn't matter that it was me. What if Jacob had met someone else? Someone mortal? Someone like Bianca. Someone completely defenseless and vulnerable. Kind of like how Bella used to be. Bella is getting off more on the idea of eliminating something weaker than her, now that she has all of this extra strength, and then claiming Jacob as the prize.

"I swear, if I find out that one of you hurt Edward, I will pick you stupid dogs off one by one," she growled.

"What about Renesmee? Where is she?" I asked, taunting her a bit. "You're not being a very good mommy if you don't know where your own daughter is."

"What did you do with my daughter?" she gritted through her teeth.

"Is it normal to lock your kid in her room so you don't have to deal with her? Or, better yet, lock her in a room with a man that you kidnapped and drugged for your own selfish, greedy reasons."

"Shut up."

"He's awake, by the way. Jacob. My Jacob."

"He's not yours, bitch."

"You don't have to call me names. That's not nice," I smirked.

What the fuck are you doing, Leah? Why are you taunting her? Sam asked.

She's calling her bluff, Kaya answered, her tone dripping in amusement and respect.

She was right. Bella has had every opportunity, every chance, every opening to kill me and hasn't. For what? Because, as much as she has become a predator, there's still a part of her humanity that's stopping her. I knew exactly what that was. "I'll make you a deal," I started. "I'll give you Jacob. We'll ask him if he wants to be free of the pack and every single Alpha responsibility so that he can make you the happiest little newborn vampire ever."

Uh, where are you going with this? Jared asked.

"What do you want?" Bella asked. She seemed skeptical yet intrigued. So easy. It was like reading a two-page book; even in her afterlife, she lacked enough depth and know-how for me to easily stop her from breaking my face for two minutes.

"If he says yes, kill me quick," I said simply, shrugging. "You can have him if you kill me quickly and painlessly, right here, right now. I'll even give you some pointers if you need them."

"Excuse me?"

"We don't have to keep doing this back and forth. You've been talking this big game of getting rid of me. Here's your chance," I held my arms out at my sides, opening myself up completely.

Playing with fire. That's what I was best at. I thought I had been getting better about trying to do things the safe way, the good way. Becoming an Alpha had me convinced that I needed to have things perfect because that's what I needed to be for my pack. But perfect wasn't going to help me right now. Polished wasn't going to help me. I wanted to see if she would fall for the gamble. Gambling was all about intuition. Do you trust your gut more than the other person? As I stood there, making myself defenseless and exposed, I put all of my faith in my gut. Because I knew a few things that Bella didn't:

1) I knew that Bella's soft spot for Jacob was what was stopping her from being completely cut off from her humanity. She was battling a duality in herself. All of her killer instincts were telling her to get the job done. But that part that was holding onto him wouldn't let her.

2) Even if she gave herself fully to this aggressive, predatory hunger in her, the pack would tear her to shreds before she could even get to me.

And 3) Jacob was now standing just inside the tree line and he was pissed.

Bella guffawed, "You want me to give you mercy after everything you've taken from me? Fat chance."

"That's my deal. Take it or leave it." I didn't blink not one time. I kept every single part of my body still. I willed my heart to stay calm and level. "Hey Jacob, come on out!"

Bella's head whipped as Jacob stepped out of the tree line. He looked like hell; his normally vibrant, beautiful russet skin was pale and gray, and his eyes were sunken in. His fists were clenched at his side and I could tell that he was trying to stop the tremors that were wracking through his body. Jacob was barely on his two bare feet. But he knew. He knew what needed to be done. "Jake," Bella breathed, her face crumbling into devastation. Her whole body seemed to deflate as soon as she saw him. And there it was.

Her human side. It was more likely that I would have been killed accidentally than Bella fully giving herself over to her predator. It was a risk, but I had seen it before. I had seen it in Sam every single time he'd talked to me for the past few years. His human side. This supernatural life can only do so much before you realize that whatever you are—whether it's a werewolf or a vampire or whatever the fuck else is out there in the world—you're always human first. Without humanity, we're nothing except shells with special powers.

"This needs to stop, Bella," Jacob rasped. "Now."

"I know it does," she said desperately. "I know it needs to stop. I'm trying to make it stop so we can all be together."

Jacob's jaw clenched. His eyes cast down at the snow as he struggled to contain himself. "This wasn't the way to do it," he gritted out. "You drug me, you threaten my family—"

"We can be your family, Jake," she cried. "Renesmee loves you so much already and I love you. I've always loved you."

She ran until she was right in front of him. Startled, he jumped before closing his eyes to take a deep breath. Bella reached up to brush his rapidly growing hair out of his eyes. Jacob flinched and held up a hand to stop her. I watched as Bella studied his face. "Why won't you look at me?" she whispered. He just shook his head, his thoughts aggressively darting toward me. He was somewhere between I don't have the energy for this and I just want her to get the fuck away from me. "I'm still me, Jake. I'm still your Bells."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Jacob continued to shake his head as it hung low. "No," was all he said, over and over again. He finally looked up at her, his eyes hard and just a small hint of a golden ring around them. "You're not the Bella that I knew. Not anymore."

"Jake, don't say that," Bella begged. "Just let me explain why I did all of us. I can tell you everything. I saw it all when I was turning. It was like…like an epiphany. I saw you and me and Edward and the baby. And we were all happy. You were happy with us, just the way it's supposed to be. It was always supposed to be this way."

"Except for the part where I don't fucking want that, Bella," Jacob yelled. "I have what I want."

I bit my bottom lip, nervously, as I watched Jacob trail his gaze to me. Bella followed his eyes and glared at me. Her nostrils flared and I watched as she pursed her lips hard before turning back to Jacob. "That's just that Bond thing talking. You don't mean that."

"No, it's not."

"This is worse than an imprint. Remember how much you hate imprinting." Bella reached up to touch Jacob's face.

"Listen to me," he said through his teeth, catching her wrists in his hands before forcing them away from him. "We will never be together. You will never be part of my family. Even if we all make it out of this alive, I will never forgive you for threatening Leah. Ever. You have been dead to me since your heart stopped. Do you understand me?"

You could have heard a pin drop, it got so quiet. It felt like the whole world stopped as soon as the words left Jacob's mouth. Except he wasn't just Jacob. What I was looking at was The Alpha Male. Even drugged, exhausted, and trembling, Jacob's wolf was present and prominent. The Alpha's female had been threatened and, while he could only fight with words at the moment, Jacob was making it perfectly known that he would not stand for his pack—his family—being compromised.

Being rejected is one of the hardest things to ever go through other than the death of a loved one. Rejection was so personal; it was the person whose affection you want most in the world telling you that you weren't good enough. There was something about you that wasn't good enough. Bella's delusion was a result of her having never been rejected before. Edward took all but five seconds to give into whatever it was that he was feeling in his cold, dead heart when Bella was still human. And then Jacob, before the Bond, was jumping through hoops to make her happy when Edward left her. Even when he left her, he was willing to kill himself at the thought of not being with her.

Now, here she was, facing a real rejection by someone who just short of promised to always be there for her no matter what. She had been depending on Jacob's loyalty to her through all of this. She wanted for me to only be temporary, something that he'd get over after a while. And then he'd be back to being that sunshine that she'd always needed him to be. "What…" she started. She took an unnecessary deep breath. "What is so special about her?" she spat.

"She will always be exactly what I need," Jacob said, definitely.

Bella blinked a few times, nodding her head confused. She looked as if she was trying to compute what he said as quickly as she could. Then she was shaking her head no, her face practically blurring. "I-I…no," she mumbled. "It's not supposed to happen like this. She was never supposed to be in the picture. She was never part of our future."

Jacob sighed, "Bella…we don't have a future."

"You really think she's going to make you happy the way I can? Leah can't give you a life. She can't even give you a child." Jacob didn't say anything; he just looked at her. That silent confirmation that blew everything out of the water. "No…it's not possible…"

"Bella," Jacob said, trying to catch her eye. "Let us walk away from this. We'll leave you here with Edward. We can all live out our futures. We can leave this all in the past right now. Please."

She looked up at him, a completely deadly look in her eyes. "No," she argued. "She doesn't get to have a future."

I didn't have time to react before she targeted me. Bella's enraged blood red eyes locked on my unsuspecting throat, her teeth baring and a loud growl erupting from deep in her body. I felt myself gasp before I turned to run in the opposite direction. Why was it that when you needed to move fast, your body couldn't react the way it was supposed to? "Bella, stop!" Jacob roared behind me. Bella launched herself at my legs, her ice-cold fingers successfully wrapping around one of my legs and bringing me down to the ground. The piercing pain was sudden and insufferable and excruciating as she completely shattered my knee and a scream that I only registered as my own later echoed through the trees. She clawed her way up my body, hissing at me about how I didn't deserve him. I could barely comprehend what was happening; my stomach lurched as the sharp pains shot through my entire body.

But as soon as she was on me, she was gone. Bella's body was ripped away from on top of me as soon as I could realize she was finally close enough to kill me. I lie on my back, heaving and crying, as my head lobbed to the side just as Jacob's russet wolf tackled Bella away from me. His jaws snapped at her neck and in a single break, her head was severed from her body. Her head dropped to the ground right as she fell to her knees and then flat on her stomach. Jacob phased immediately back to his person and collapsed beside her.

"Leah!" I heard someone call. A woman's voice. Kaya's. "Paul, Jared, get Jacob!"

Kaya dropped to her knees next to me and brushed my hair back from my face. "Jesus, Leah," she whispered. "You're going to be ok. Alright, little wolf? Just hold on for me."

That was the last thing I remember hearing before I passed out.

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When I woke up, I was still lying in the snow, surrounded by the pack. Kaya was wiping cold water over my forehead and whispering to me. I shook my head, trying to get over the shock of the cold. My eyes blinked open, slowly. 11 pairs of eyes looked back at me as my vision came into focus. The sun was setting behind all of them and I could feel every ounce of concern and relief that was passing through them. "Oh, thank God…" I heard Seth say. I gasped as he threw himself on top of my body in a hug; he immediately stood up straight and apologized. Instead, he took my hand in his and rubbed the pad of his thumb on the back. I was shaking. Hard.

The memory came flooding back like I was being waterboarded. I scrambled to sit up, ignoring the protests of everyone around me. "Jacob. Where's Jacob?" I gasped.

"He's alright," Kaya assured me. "He's doing only a little bit better than you right now. Your leg is in pretty bad shape. Just relax."

"Where is he?" I repeated, emphasizing every word.

"I'm right here, Lee," his voice was quiet from a few yards away. Looking over, I saw Jacob standing with Ephraim, throwing a bunch of body parts into a pile.

I asked Sam and Paul to help me stand up. As Kaya insisted that I continue to lie down, I waved my hand to tell her that I was fine. I couldn't stand on my left leg; putting pressure on it felt like a bunch of knives were shoved into my kneecap. I whimpered as I tried to step. "She shattered it," Paul told me. "And it healed wrong while you were out."

"You're going to have to take it easy for a while," Sam piped in.

When we made it over to Jacob and Ephraim, they had just finished putting Bella's body in a pile with a bunch of firewood. Jacob looked over at me with a sad look before wrapping an arm around my waist so I could lean on him. He immediately buried his face in my hair. "God, I'm so sorry, Leah."

"Why are you apologizing?" I asked, reaching up to play with the small hairs on his back of his head. His beard tickled my neck a little bit as he nuzzled closer.

"This is all my—"

"Don't start that," I interrupted him. "It's over now. It's done."

Bella's dark brown hair peaked out of the bottom of the pile and I felt myself swallow the bile that threatened to rise up my throat. Years of watching this girl make mistake after mistake, decision after decision, that only ever hurt the people who cared about her. And it was over. My entire existence as a shapeshifter had been centered around helping this girl, only for her to turn into the very monster that had hunted her for years, time after time.

We had watched Bella transform from this weak girl with tunnel vision to a predator with dangerous delusions. Those delusions hurt my brother, my mate, Kaya. They hurt me, too. What would have happened if she had finished me off in La Push? The night she broke into my house could have been the end of me and the beginning of the end for her. There was no version of this where she made it out alive. And, for some reason, that made me sad. As I looked at her hair wisping in the wind from the bottom of a pyre, I was mourning for the girl she could have been.

Ephraim placed a careful hand on my arm before offering me a matchbook. "Would you like to do the honors? Ashes to ashes."

Bella Swan's selfish behavior led to her destruction. She had been surrounded by enablers for so long, she truly believed that she could just take whatever she wanted without question. She turned my life into a game for her own amusement and greed. Had she not been so self-regarding and had Edward not been so careless and gutless, this wouldn't have happened. Rosalie's words ran through my head as I slowly took the matchbook from Ephraim's hands: "I listened to her tell Edward how she'd gladly be rid of you because you have ruined her chance at her true happiness."

True happiness, my ass. Jacob kept his face buried in my hair and I lit three matches at once. "Good riddance, bitch," I whispered, throwing the matches into the pyre. It didn't take long for the whole thing to go up in flames and soon that small lock of hair was ash. The dark cloud of smoke danced in the sky as I stood there with my pack and my mate, thinking about how ready I was to go home and put this stupid situation to rest finally.

But, when you're dealing with vampires, you always have to make sure you tie up the loose ends. And there was one loose end that was lurking in the shadows watching us watch his wife burn.

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Yeah, we're not done yet.

Also, I still can't stop watching that tik tok (girl, you are too old to be on tik tok) of the guy twerking to Bella's lullaby. That shit is hilarious lmao