CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
(JPOV)
More than an hour passed while I waited impatiently there for him to show, my instincts running in overdrive and the adrenaline coursing through my heated veins with a heavy weight. I could hardly keep still as the minutes passed by, my eyes going in every which direction as I waited.
A low growl escaped my muzzle as I thought of the hell Bella went through from the way he took off. Like the coward he was, he ran and left her to pick up the pieces.
I had high hopes that he would stay away for good. Guess that hope was a thing of the past now.
I was highly on edge and was losing my patience.
The slightest snap of a tree branch or the sudden scurry of a creature would have my hackles rising in anticipation.
I was rapidly growing tired of the waiting game.
As if the universe itself had a window into my thoughts, the scent carried out to me from the West and I snarled, snapping my jaws reflexively as it intensified. I rose from my laying position and whipped my head up just in time to catch the quickly vanishing sight of a long blonde ponytail as it blew in the fierce wind.
The moonlight glinted off her face while she teetered there in the tree above me just long enough for me to get a good look at her. She wasn't one of them that I recognized and I worried what that meant.
Had they taken in another member to their already large clan?
She took off in a blinding blur then and I shot forward after her, my speed fast enough to give her a real run for her money. I weaved around the trees with precision and mentally cussed as I chased her through the dark woods.
Squelching fire flooded through my every limb and I flew like never before, bringing myself mere inches from the back end of her, my closeness enough to feel the very tip of her ponytail touch my snapping jaws as another ferocious roar left me.
So... he hadn't come alone.
Maybe this was a trap.
Maybe I was charging head first into it. Oh well- I wasn't letting her get away.
We neared the river and I lunged forward again, my razor teeth just missing her half a second before she flew across the large river bank, propelling herself high into the air with only a few running strides, before landing on the very edge of the opposite side of the jagged rocks that heavily lined the water there. I skidded to a stop, and threw my head back, letting out a loud howl that filled the surrounding forest, and it was with great satisfaction that I watched her golden gaze go wide in alarm when she heard the responding cry of the pack.
She was on our lands now and that made her fair game.
Sharp venom soaked fangs pulled up over her red painted lips as she tried to plan her escape.
I held her startled stare while she snapped her head up and sharply whirled herself around just as the mass of us came charging after her.
Gentry was in the lead, followed by Paul, Seth and Embry, all of them running toward her with renewed speed, as I took a few strides back and hurled myself over the river to join them in the chase.
She wasted no time before fleeing, her movements so quick that they showed as nothing more than a blur while she went.
"I knew this was a trap! How many more could be coming!" Seth yelled through the pack mind, his advance on her making him hungry for the kill as he outran Gentry and easily went by Embry. His speed had greatly increased as of lately and I couldn't have been more proud of him for his dedication to the pack.
"I don't know!"
"She's headed for the Reservation! She has to be!"
"You catch her, you end her. Got it!?"
Seth growled and pushed himself harder, as he gained momentum on the platinum blonde leech who'd dared to cross over into La'Push.
We were inches from her, Seth and I taking the lead from the others and trying to outrun one another in the battle of who got to her first.
"She's fast!"
"-But we're faster!" I yelled to him, as the blonde screamed out the name that shattered my focus.
"Edward!"
Without warning, another hiss filled the night air as the feel of solid concrete plowing into me from the side, savagely ripped the air from my lungs. The forceful impact sent us both down over the river's edge with enough speed to crack the many bolders we collided with on the way down. Bits of rock and earth hurled down the steep incline with us as we rolled over and over.
Utter mayhem broke out from above, howling and snarling from all around, and before I could make sense of anything, my head still spinning from the sudden impact with granite stone, Gentry was there, his massive Grizzly frame now barreling down the side of the rivers edge with a menacing roar that covered the forest as I came to a stop at the shallow bottom.
"JAKE!"
Pain shot through my left side while I tried to regain my footing, my legs unsteady and my vision fading in and out as Gentry drew closer. He moved faster than I knew possible, his massive size soon coming to stand protectively ahead of me in the water with a deafening roar of warning. He was seething. His thoughts running together with vile obscenities as he set his deadly gaze on a point just ahead of us there in the low current.
I ignored the pain, and felt my broken ribs shift in agonizing protest as I rolled and got up. My eyes suddenly refocused on the statue still form of Edward Cullen, his golden hued gaze now murderous as he glared daggers at Gentry who was unmovable in his firm stance. Thunder began to roll in from the distance but it's noise couldn't cover the roars that continued to leave Gentry. His ears were laid back and he soon reared up on his back legs, towering above me like a wall before letting his paws pound the river bed below.
Pissed wasn't the word I'd use to describe him right now.
"Call him off, Jake!" Edward yelled to me, the nervousness to his song like tone grating on my very last nerve when it reached me.
"Screw you!" I angrily thought back to him. "You came at me, remember!?"
Gentry swayed his head from side to side in clear challenge to Edward, as he backed himself up closer to me, my stance still unsteady from the fall before.
"He can hear our thoughts, Bro?" Gentry questioned and I merely huffed to him in response. "Good, at least he'll know what I'm gonna do to him before I-"
"Wait." I ground out. "Not yet! Keep your cool, Gentry."
"Why the hell should I? Huh!? Give me one good reason not to tear him apart and burn the pieces! He plowed you down over that embankment! That's at least a hundred foot drop down over the edge. He could've really-... I'm gonna rip him-" Gentry seethed.
"Bro, I'm alright." I repeated. "Keep your head about you. We have other matters at hand."
"Jacob, I had no idea you had a brother? Two sons of Billy Black. That's really something." Edward sighed, though the breath wasn't needed for him. "It would be better for me to communicate with you if you were on two legs and not four. I still prefer that way."
Gentry took a menacing step forward at this, his thoughts to me loud and laced with a real concern.
"He just plowed you down this embankment and now he wants to chat like it was nothing and in human form no less?"
"You stay where you are and stay phased. I'll change back."
I shook the soreness from my limbs, feeling it fade from me as I healed and took cover in the nearby trees. I was back on two legs, and pulling on my spare tattered cutoffs in seconds, Edwards gaze unreadable as he looked me over when I approached, still cautious to keep a considerable distance between us.
"Forgive me for before. You didn't leave me much choice. You see, my mate, Tanya, she's a bit brazen in her tactics these days. I didn't warn her of the consequences should she cross over to your side."
"You should have." I sharply corrected. "If they chase her down and destroy her-"
"I'm sure she can hold her own for now."
"Don't be so confident. I almost had her myself." I pointedly reminded. "Doesn't matter the time that's gone by, as you stated in your letter to Bella, treaty is still in place."
Edward narrowed his gaze further with a single nod of acknowledgement to this.
"Yes, so you read the letter as well. I'm glad you know our intent."
"You were vague. Didn't give a whole lot to go off of." I clarified in a clipped tone to him.
"True." He easily agreed.
"So on with it, Edward. Why are you here and what the hell do you want?"
His head raised then as the blonde, who he named as Tanya, suddenly showed up at his side. I glanced up and could hear the snarls from the pack still echoing out around us, all of them chomping at the bit to rid them off our lands in a hurry. Sam was there now, his dark coat almost invisible in the shadows of the night while he peered down to us below.
They were all here and Edward knew that he had to be on his best behavior or they'd surely pay the consequence for it. I had no doubt that Sam had intervened before they'd caught Tanya and destroyed her, knowing she may very well have information we still needed.
"I'm sorry I didn't warn you properly Tanya." Edward informed her, the two of them huddling close together as she eyed me speculatively. "This here is Jacob. Billy's son. The one I told you about."
She nodded and extended her hand to me, the notion making me lean back away from her with a questioning glare to Edward.
"I'm Tanya, Edward may have left out a few key details about your abilities and who you are. Guess my adventurous side got way ahead of me this time. I didn't mean to raise alarm, but clearly, I did just that."
"Yeah, we tend not to like your kind too close to our lands. Edward would be wise to remind you of this going forward. Next time, if there is one, you might not get so lucky." I formally warned her.
"We don't want there to have to be a next time." Edward commented.
"Good to know."
I saw his expression turn remorseful when he glanced down to my left hand and caught sight of my wedding ring there.
"Believe it or not Jacob, I'm glad Bella is with you, that she's safe. Despite how I left things."
"Which was shitty at best." I countered.
"Yes, it was, but as I was saying, despite those regretted events, I wouldn't want her life to have turned out any other way than it is now for her. What very little I know. from the outside of course, she seems very happy with you. Family and all." He stopped short with his speech when he saw the narrowing suspicion of my gaze, and he hurriedly put my mind to rest. "Alice does sweep through these parts from time to time. Keeping only to Forks and she doesn't terry long, I assure you. It's only to be sure of Bella's safety."
"We haven't caught her scent." I hedged in confusion.
"That isn't surprising. My sister is very careful these days."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning, that she takes the detailed route with another party who masks her scent. She plans it out so she is close by when a nomad passes through."
Gentry huffed in frustration at this, and I held up a hand to him as a reminder to keep his cool, as I straightened my shoulders and approached them further.
"Tell Alice that Bella doesn't need her protection."
Edward held my stare and left Tanya's side at this, his face becoming more serious now.
"Unfortunately, she does. You all do. This is why we made the run here. The rest of my family will be arriving within a few more days."
"The quicker you get to the point, the better." I testily told him, my patience all but gone now at the mention of Bella and her safety being dependent on Alice's abilities.
"You know my sister can see the future? That she has visions?" He questioned.
"Ones that are subject to change should the person on the path in her vision, suddenly alter their original course." I added.
"Correct."
"-and?
"She's been seeing things about Bella. Some of her visions of her future are bleak at best and they tend to not be clear. Picture it almost like, looking through a fogged glass and still trying to depict the image correctly. If that makes sense."
My skin heated at this as I tilted my head and searched his gaze further, his look appearing to be as sincere as it could be when he spoke.
"What would make the vision blurry like that?" I questioned. "A defect in Alice's ability or-"
Edwards one word answer was simple then.
"You."
"What?" I balked back. "What do you mean me? I know it's messed with them before, but Alice never mentioned that it made her future unclear. I'm not one for riddles so don't toy with me."
"I'm not. I assure you." Edward stated, gesturing to me once again. "The pack, they more than just blur Alices vision, they cause holes to form in it. There's been a few times where she saw Bella's future disappear entirely. She almost came here then, but I convinced her not to. We don't want to interfere where we no longer belong."
My mind raced with endless possibilities from his statement, as I tried to follow where he was going with this. Dread struck me when he looked my way again.
"As in gone? Not just fogged?"
"Yes, Jacob. I'm afraid so."
I tried to swallow and keep talking, but it was a real struggle to do so. Fear wrapped itself around every part of me as we stared at each other.
"Keep going-"
Edward pointed toward the rest of the pack, and peered around at the dense tree's around us before he continued, his contemplative silence making me want to race back home to Bella and the kids right now, but I forced myself to stay put.
"When I left Forks years ago, I did so with the intent to keep her safe from my world, Jacob. I shouldn't have put her in harms way by exposing her to it in the first place. Leaving was the right choice...-" He hesitated and I felt the tremors return from his implication.
"But?" I barely managed through gritted teeth.
"As you know, our kind have laws to abide by, Jacob. Laws that we have to follow, the same that your kind do. We all answer to someone. For us, it was always the Volturi. Exposing who I was to Bella, baring that secret to her, came at a price."
"A price we all paid- in one way or the other- if your memory serves you right."
"It does, and yes I know what a close call that was at one time. Thankfully, you all remained in tact."
I was barely holding my shit together as my body shook with more tremors while I recalled the flood of them that came at us from Alaric. Tanya reached for Edward, her stone face appearing to be nervous, as her eyes went wide at the sight of my impending phase.
"Edward...-" She warned.
"It's alright, Tanya. Jacob won't hurt me. Not at the expense of Bella."
"You're awfully sure of yourself." I angrily countered. "You shouldn't be."
"I'm sure that you need me for what I'm about to tell you. That I'm sure of, yes. My family and I are your connection to what's coming. We're the bartering chips in this game- so to speak."
"I'm not playing any games with you bloodsucker."
"Jacob, when my family aided you and the pack against the volturi and against Alaric, they covered as much ground as they could, but things were missed."
"We were outnumbered. By a lot." I huffed out. "What are you saying?"
"Do you remember the faces of some of them? I know it was six years ago but-"
"Yes." I answered truthfully. "Can't erase something like that from your mind."
"No, I suppose not. Do you remember Aro's guard?"
"Not by name."
"Very well, let me remind you then. There was a guard there that day by the name of Demetri. He has the ability to track people through the tenors of their minds."
His words made me step forward again as the heat licked it's way up my spine.
"Has? As in present tense and not past?" I darkly questioned.
"Yes, as in, still does."
The snarls that left the pack from above us were loud and Gentry was already swiping his paws at the ground from this.
"We missed one." I stated.
"A very lethal one."
"What the hell does this mean?!"
"It means another fight because in the years following the last attack from them, Demetri has rebuilt what Aro left behind when he was destroyed. He has done so from the ground up. Years of recruiting. Years of strategy."
"He's rebuilt the volturi."
"Yes and freedom is no longer Bella's. He wants her and he's determined to get that which he wants. Demetri's senses are lethal. Since no one has been able to effectively conceal themselves from his sensing, he is a huge threat to those who wish to avoid an attack. What he's built is unlike anything I've ever seen in my one hundred plus years."
The fire overtook me from his admission, and I could no longer stay on two legs. I phased back into wolf form and stalked toward Edward, my thoughts clear for him to read.
"Get me to Demetri. I know you can. So do it."
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's a cliffy! Please review!