CHAPTER FORTY
(JPOV)
The evening was almost through and by the time I'd finished my second drink with Sam, both of us were shocked to realize how late it was already.
"That time can't be right? There's no way it's already that late?" Sam questioned, while doing a double take at the clock on the wall just above us.
"Afraid so. We've been talking for almost three hours."
"Don't seem possible." Sam sighed. "- but I'm grateful that we squared things away and we did it right this time around."
"Me too, Sam." I sincerely told him. "I meant everything I said before. Just because you're stepping down doesn't mean that we don't need you. We'll always need you. I'll always need you. So, while I hope you enjoy your break, I also hope you don't make it too long of one."
"I'm not sure right now, Jake. Time will tell." He truthfully replied, with a shrug. "Truth is- I think you've been ready to take over for a while now. There's no one else more fit to lead the pack and I know you'll be fierce and loyal. Always have been."
"Thanks, Sam." I replied, as I firmly shook his hand again and headed back outside towards the awaiting woods.
I phased with ease and bolted around the darkened trees as I headed straight for home. I made it there in record time and was about to phase back when the sickeningly sweet aroma struck me hard in the face. I huffed loudly, trying to rid the stench as it enveloped me.
As if on cue, the many frantic howls started to echo out around me and the madness in my head felt suffocating.
I tuned it out and trained my focus in on the the way the trees above me swayed in the breeze. A snarl tore through me when the aroma became even more potent.
I whipped my head toward the house and saw her there, her short pixy cut barely moving as the harsh wind picked up around us. Heat coursed through me when her amber gaze looked my way.
I was suddenly flanked on either side then as Gentry and Paul beat the others to my aid and growled at her.
"Settle." I ordered them both, and a resounding shock wave filtered through the packs mind from the sound of the command and the authority it held when it left me.
"She crossed over onto our lands. I say we chase her back to where she came from." Paul seethed.
"What are we doing here, Jacob? Say the word and we'll hunt her down-"
"Wait." I reaffirmed, noticing now the way she lingered there only a few hundred feet from the house with her too calm expression molded perfectly in place on her petite porcelain face.
Her eyes went wide at the sight of Quil, Embry and Leah who hurriedly joined us with their threating snarls. She knew how outnumbered she was, and she knew what a risk she was taking by crossing into our lands and yet here she was.
I moved forward when she started heading our way and despite the uproar behind me, I silenced them all with a renewed command and stalked toward her.
"Quiet!"
I didn't care about formalities or decency when I stopped a more twenty feet from her and phased back to human form, my nakedness causing her to look away from me until I pulled on my cut offs and continued forward.
"I didn't go inside."
"Good thing." I retorted with a clear edge to my tone. "We wouldn't be standing here talking if you had."
Alice ducked her head and nervously peered out around me with suspicion.
"Is Sam not coming along? I assumed he would be present for such a thing as this. I know I broke the rules with crossing the border."
"Sam won't be joining us." I clarified.
She narrowed her gaze at me and folded her arms over her chest, as if learning this news somehow annoyed her or unsettled her. I couldn't be sure of which.
Several seconds of uneasy silence went by then as she looked me over with peaked interest, before straightening her near statue form and formerly squaring her shoulders.
"It's you, isn't it? You've taken on the role of Alpha I assume?"
I nodded and stared at her while she glanced back toward the house again and quickly scanned her surroundings.
"The rest of the pack will be here shortly." I told her. "We leave a lot of holes in your vision, don't we? Must really get under that ice cold skin of yours after a while?"
She raised her eyebrows and set her mouth into a thin line of clear annoyance, before silently lowering the hood of her thick Jacket and inching closer to me. Her sudden approach made my lungs burn from the acidic smell she carried, and I sharply recoiled from her slight touch when she reached her hands out toward me.
"We are born to be enemies, Jacob."
"That we are." I bit back, seeing the hardness of her face soften some when she moved her hands closer to me.
"But we don't always have to remain that way- if we're working for the common good of someone we both care for- even if it is in striking contrast. I am not going to pretend to know the devotion you have for Bella, nor would I dare to compare the love you feel for her versus the short time that she became like family to us. Nonetheless- I'm here."
"There is no comparison." I ground out.
"I only want to make things right for her. You can choose to believe me-"
"...-and if I don't?"
"I think you already do, if not, I know that I'd be on the run by now with most of your pack fast behind me."
"What makes you think we won't chase you off our lands again?"
"-because I think you want to know what I have for information on the Volturi and as much as it angers you, deep down- you know that I'm the key to the answers you need."
"Start talking." I asserted then, "Patience is running paper thin right now."
"Understandable... -do you think you can trust me enough to let me show you something? I'm not sure it will work, but I've been further developing my skills over the last decade and as of late, I can now convey my visions to others. If they are willing participants- of course. I think it's worth a try."
The pack grew more and more agitated with her words, and I felt my skin heat in response to the rowdiness.
"Trusting you, any of your kind, is a bit of a stretch don't you think?" I countered.
"For anyone other than you- yes maybe. You see Jacob, I happen to know that when it comes right down to it, your loathing and outright hatred of me could never outweigh your care for Bella and for her safety. Am I right?"
I lifted my hand and held it back toward the snarling pack, signaling for them to cease their movements and they did so without any further hesitation.
Among the quiet there, I listened for the sound that rang out above everything else now swarming at a maddening speed in my head. It was there- just like it always was whenever she was close enough to me - that steady heartbeat of hers that tied me to this earth like nothing else could.
"You already know the answer to that."
"Then let me show you. I've been to Voltera and you need to see what's coming so you're ready. I'm here to help you do that. Do you really think I would risk my own neck for any other reason? I'm not foolish enough to think I could outrun all of you."
As bad as I hated to admit it - and I did hate it- what she was saying made sense. Her trip here had to prove to be important enough for her to take that kind of risk knowing how outnumbered she'd be upon arrival.
"You try to pull anything and you'll leave here as nothing more than ash. Are we clear on this?"
"Crystal." She paled, looking toward the awaiting pack with a leery gaze. "Can you promise me that you'll keep them at bay long enough for me to show you without interference?"
"You have a deal." I solidly countered.
"Good."
"How do we do this?" I tersely questioned.
She beckoned me forward and rose her hands higher in response, as I struggled to stay on two legs while my tremors rocked their way through me again.
I fought them, taking the final step ahead and cringed when my palms finally touched hers.
"Fight the change. I know it's painful but you have to or this will all be for nothing. It's your instinct to vanquish the threat, but you have to tame the wolf long enough for me to show you everything."
"Okay." I huffed out, as I continued to stay planted on two legs despite the fierce tremors that made that task torturously hard for me.
"Close your eyes. Try not to block me out. You can do that. I know you can. This won't work if you shut down on me. Stay focused, Jacob."
I thought of Bella, her face, her voice, and the sound of her pounding heartbeat was the last thing I heard, before my mind was enshrouded with darkness. My body felt weighted and I tried not to fight against the trapped feeling it left me with when Alice's icy palms pressed harder against mine.
The heavy and suffocating darkness rapidly changed into a sea of black cloaks with dozens of eyes lit with a crimson red fire. Alice spoke then and though I could hear her, she was nowhere to be found in the vision itself.
"Stay with me, don't lose sight of what's in front of you. It's the future."
Her words brought with it a fresh image of the endless eyes of vivid red all turning to focus on the man who's skin was eerily translucent, and who's hair was long and black in color. It covered his face and when he lifted his crimson gaze, he spoke her name. As if he was calling to her like she belonged to him.
"Isabella."
Fire hastily licked up my spine and I struggled not to give in to the wolfs steady pull now.
Without warning, we were no longer in Voltera as a mass of them sped with blinding speed through the forest. Dozens of them lined the borders edge of Washington, and I heard the loud roaring that rumbled the ground beneath them, as they surrounded us on all sides.
They covered us two fold- maybe three even, and I saw Gentry tear through the oncoming mass of them first, and just as the pack charged forward fast behind him, ready to collide with the endless sea of black cloaks, the scenery changed and Bella stood before me.
Her smile was bright and she looked to me while holding Clarissa in her arms.
My daughter was taller, older... more grown than I was ready to see her as, and she laughed when Bella kissed her cheek before she released her. The ground changed underneath us as Clarissa ran for me, her eyes full of nothing but joy when she called out to me.
"Daddy!"
She had nearly reached me when she suddenly stopped and turned to look back over her shoulder.
There behind her, Bella stood watching on and wearing the same smile but she wasn't alone anymore.
Wrapped around her legs and eagerly reaching for her were two small children. A little boy and a little girl.
Bella knelt down with them and pointed to me and they soon took off running after Clarissa.
The feel of Alice's cold hands sharply leaving mine tore the vision from my mind and I gasped from the emptiness it left me with.
The heavy weight lifted as quickly as it had been placed on me and when I opened my eyes, she was there, her golden gaze now looking deep into my own.
My one word question to her was simple but strained when I spoke it.
"When?"
"Soon...-very soon, Jacob."
A/N: Thank you for all the kind reviews. New chapter tomorrow. Be well my readers. Love to you all.