The Alpha Female

JacobxBella

Rated M

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or the franchise, as it belongs to Steph Meyers

The Alpha Female

Chapter 12

"Charlie, will you just calm down for a moment?" Billy asked somewhat exasperatedly.

"No Billy! I'm not going to calm down over this!" Charlie yelled as he paced in front of his best friend. He was still trying to comprehend what he had seen happen between his daughter and her wretched boyfriend, never mind the fact his oldest friend had just told him some century old secret of his tribe. The Quileute warriors had been spirit wolves? They could turn into bear sized wolves? And vampires were actually real? It was all too much! And then to top it all off, his own daughter knew all about this and was dating a vampire, only to now be some sort of…wolf hybrid.

Shaking his head Charlie stopped and looked at his friend, a hint of betrayal evident in his eyes behind his anger and confusion. Looking Billy square in his eye he asked, "How could you not let me know this, Billy?"

Billy sighed and said heavily, "It wasn't my secret to tell to you, chief. No one outside of the tribe Elders and the Pack are to know about it." His eyes drifted towards the stairs where Bella was currently hiding out in her room. "Your daughter only knows because of her involvement with the Cullens."

"And how would she know that they were vampires, I wonder?" Charlie's voice sounded very accusing, as if blaming Billy for Bella being so enthralled with the Cullens.

"Oh no, you can't blame me for that, Charlie. You can blame me for not telling you a lot of things when I should have—and I'm really sorry for that—but you can't blame me for your daughter's involvement with Cullen. Her figuring out what they were comes down to Carlisle Cullen's oldest not having any restraint in keeping away from her and Bella being too stubborn for her own good and needing to have answers. She gets that from you, you know; both of you have that damn stubborn streak. And I can see even now in your eyes that you're being stubborn in wanting to not believe any of this. Well give it up chief, because it's real. The supernatural resides here in Forks and La Push, and Bella is at the center of it all."

Charlie ran his hand through his hair, gripping it in frustration. He didn't want to listen to Billy, he really didn't. But at the same time, he knew his oldest friend was telling him nothing but the truth. And he had seen it with his own eyes; seeing is believing he supposed. Even so, he just couldn't understand why Bella felt she couldn't tell him any of this and the troubles she was having with it all. He had thought they were getting closer and were opening up to each other. Maybe he had been wrong about that. He didn't give a damn that it wasn't her secret to tell, but he thought she could at least still talk to him about it. Knowing his own daughter didn't trust him enough to still come to him hurt, it really did.

Not knowing what else to do or say, Charlie sank down in his armchair and rested his elbows on his knees, putting his face in his hands. He heard Billy wheel himself over towards him and a strong yet gentle hand rested itself on his shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. He let out a heavy sigh before looking up into dark brown eyes. Taking a deep breath he asked quietly, "What do I do, Billy? How do I deal with being a parent of a suddenly supernatural daughter?"

Billy gave him a small, warm smile and answered, "By doing the same thing I do with Jake. Be there to support her and give her guidance when she needs it. But also know it's fine to draw a line if you have to, whether she likes it or not. But above all, support her and continue to love her; you've been doing that since she was born and you can still do it now."

Bella sat with her back against her bedroom door with her knees drawn up to her chest. Tears were leaking from the corners of her eyes as she stared up at the ceiling. She had been crying and had finally come somewhat to a stop, but her tears still kept flowing, if only slowly. She was such an idiot for going all Alpha Female in front of Charlie and exposing Edward, but she couldn't help it. He had been hurting her and had ignored her pleas and demands to be let go. And for what? To act like a jealous fool and put some sort of claim on her when she had broken up with him? She couldn't even bear to look at her face and seeing the burns on her lips and around her mouth.

Reaching up she touched her lips and hissed at how sore and tender they felt. More tears filled her eyes before she slammed her fist in the wall next to her in frustration, cracking the wall as she did so. God, she absolutely hated Edward. She hated him! And because of him she had left Billy in the precarious position of explaining everything to Charlie. She had heard her father yelling and it made her even more upset; not at him for yelling at Billy, but with herself. She should be the one to be explaining everything to Charlie. Yes, there were some things that Billy would have had to explain, but he deserved to hear the truth about what she had been keeping a secret from him from her. Charlie deserved her honesty and instead she was hiding out in her room being the coward she was because she couldn't bear to face her own father to tell him what was going on in her life.

She placed her face in her knees and hugged them to her, biting her lip to keep from crying further. She was pathetic, she really was. Some Alpha Female she was. At that moment, all she wanted was for Jacob to be there with her.

The Pack mind was abuzz with the mixed reactions of what Bella had done as seen through his mind. They had all seen via Jacob that Bella had exposed not only herself, but Edward Cullen to her father, albeit inadvertently and in order to defend herself. Quil and Embry were impressed and freaking out over Bella pushing the leech into his car from her front porch; Seth was worrying over whether or not Bella was alright as he had glimpsed the burns decorating her face; Paul and Jared—mainly Paul—were upset that she was stupid enough to expose their secret to Charlie, and in a normal, public neighborhood no less. The only ones that hadn't said or reacted outright to the scene were Sam and Leah, and they were keeping their thoughts to themselves so Jacob had no idea what they were thinking. After a while Sam quieted the Pack down so he could speak.

"As we can see, Bella has accidently showed Charlie that she is the Alpha Female and that her leech isn't as human as he thought he was. And despite our annoyance at her for doing so, it was obvious her hand was forced," Sam said.

Paul let out some sort of wolfish scoff before replying, "That girl is nothing but trouble. And she's going to do nothing but continue to be a fuck up and cause trouble for us."

Jacob growled at Paul and told him, "Shut up, Paul. Stop talking like that about Bella."

"Yeah, we all know you're still licking your ego from being beaten by her and having your arm broken by her," Quil said with a snicker.

Paul glared and bared his teeth at Quil, bending down as if to get ready to pounce on him. It was only Sam's warning growl and Alpha command to stop that made him relax, if only a little bit. Sam looked at Jacob and said, "Jacob, I may be Alpha right now, but it would seem you will have to take the position eventually. And I can't do anything in the ways of Bella being the Alpha Female, meaning I am in no position to reprimand her for what she has done. But you do, therefore it is up to you to talk to her."

"Why? He's just going to half-ass telling her this and baby her like he always does," Paul said, ignoring Jacob and Sam's glare towards him.

Sam looked at Jared and flicked his eyes from him to Paul, silently telling him to take the temperamental Shifter somewhere. Jared nodded and nudged Paul in his side, making him begin walking away from the Pack and further into the woods, though they would still be able to hear what was being said. Once they were out of sight Sam looked at Jacob, asking him what he was going to do.

Jacob thought about that, not really knowing what to do. He wasn't the Alpha, but it was his birthright and now had a mate to prove it. And soon he was going to have to take up his birthright at some point, but Old Quil had said it wasn't going to happen until not only Bella was ready as the Alpha Female, but he was ready as well in his mindset. He was happy it was in the girl he was in love with, but he wasn't comfortable telling Bella what to do. He liked it when she made her own decisions, rather than let them be made for her; Cullen did enough of that as it was and he wasn't going to start doing it either. He supposed he could talk to Bella, but his main concern was that she was feeling alright considering what had happened earlier that evening.

A nudge to his flank made him look to the side and see Leah as her beautiful grey wolf looking at him. Her big eyes looked at him for a moment before she said simply, "Go see her."

Jacob stared at her for a moment before looking at the black wolf standing next to him. Sam gave him a nod before looking past him towards Leah, Leah turning her head as he did so. Jacob felt a bit awkward standing between the two ex-lovers, and quickly turned and left, running back towards Bella's house. He hoped his father had spoken to Charlie and gotten him to understand their situations. But really, he was hoping Bella was alright. She had been so upset about what she had done and he had to leave her by herself. He could only hope she was holding out alright.

Bella lay on her bed with her back towards the door, staring at the wall. She had finished crying and figured she didn't have any more tears to shed, but she still felt miserable. She couldn't hear her father yelling anymore, but figured he was still downstairs talking with Billy. She wanted to go down there and talk to Charlie, but what would he say? Would he be angry like he was with Billy? Disappointed? She didn't know. For Charlie, the only thing that bothered him about her was her choice in romantic partner, but that was no longer an issue now that she had kicked Edward to the curb. But what now? She didn't think she'd be able to bear it if he was disappointed in her for what she had done and the choices she made.

There was a knock on her door and she tensed up, tensing further when she heard the door open and footsteps walk into her room. Looking over her shoulder she saw Charlie standing there, patiently waiting for her to do or say something. Sitting up she turned to face him, her heart pounding in her chest from nerves and anxiousness. Bella opened her mouth to say something, but closed not knowing where to even begin.

Charlie stared at his daughter, taking notice of how nervous she was and struggling to find something to say, and realized she must have stressed herself out over this moment of having to face him. He wasn't mad at her, nor was he disappointed. And it wouldn't be fair to make her think otherwise, especially when she was already emotionally vulnerable. Walking over to her he sat down on her bed beside of her and gave her a warm, reassuring smile.

"It's okay," Charlie said softly, his voice full of the love he would always have for his only child.

Bella stared at her father for a moment before more tears filled her eyes and a sob left her throat. Throwing her arms around him she sobbed into his chest, holding Charlie as tight as she could. She felt him wrap his arms around her to return her embrace and rub her back soothingly. Through her tears she choked out, "I'm sorry, dad. I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, kiddo. And we'll talk about it when you're ready."

Nothing more was said between them, nor was the atmosphere disturbed around them. In that moment, there were no vampires, werewolves, or anything supernatural. It was just a father and his daughter in a much needed and probably long overdue in a moment of reliance for Bella. In that moment she realized that she needed to rely on her father more and there was nothing wrong with that.