SM owns Twilight. We just want to live in her world a bit longer.

Chapter 15

Sam's pack took off towards Emily's house without a second look back at the three latecomers.

Jacob was eager to catch up with his friends and brothers and get something to eat. It has been way too long since their last meal.

He stripped down, phased, and Bella climbed on his back again. They took off to follow the others.

Hey, Jake, are you still sending me back to Sam's pack? Seth asked as they were running.

I'm not really sure what the long term plan is here. I don't think I can go back to being under Sam, but I'm not ready to lead. Jake admitted. I need to chat with my Dad and the other Elders.

Seth remained silent, still hoping to stay.

Let's see what happens when we get back. I have no plans of kicking you out right now.

Thanks, man!

Emily's house approached, and they followed their new routine of letting Bella down, walking away, phasing, and redressing.

Jake took her hand and led her towards the house; it was full, as usual, with half-naked, noisy boys.

When they opened the back door, they were greeted with a couple of happy faces.

"Jake, it's good to have you back," Quil said as he gave Jacob a quick hug. It is slightly awkward being that they were both shirtless.

"Long time no see," Embry said as he gave him a hug too. Jake kept hold of Bella's hand the whole time, not willing to let her go.

Leah walked over to Seth and punched him in the arm. "That's for running away without me!" She joked.

"Missed you too, Leah," Seth responded, pulling her into an unwelcome hug.

After the initial greetings were over, Jake surveyed the faces of the rest of the room.

Colin and Brady were sitting on the couch; they waved at him but didn't say anything else.

Rachel was sitting on Paul's lap, and he was stroking the inside of her thigh. It made Jacob feel queasy. That was his sister. He knew Paul was doing it just to get under his skin.

Jared was leaning against the kitchen bench with his arms around Kim. He was glaring at Jacob.

Lastly, there was Sam; he had his ever-present scowl on his face. Jacob stares into his eyes and could feel his wolf chomping at the bit. He could feel the other alpha in the room, and he wanted to take him down.

He felt Bella rubbing his arm softly; it was enough to break the tension, and Jake looked away.

Emily came into the room from the kitchen carrying a basket of muffins. They smelled like blueberry, Jake's favorite.

"Muffins," she called out, oblivious to the tension in the room, as she put them on the table.

Everyone reached in to grab one. When Jake took one out of the bowl, he felt a hand grab his wrist tightly. He looked up to see Sam staring at him.

"These are for the pack," he said in his deep voice. "I assume you have your own pack now. I can feel you are alpha."

Jacob let go of the muffin and shook his arm to release Sam's grip. He leaned back, away from the table and wrapped his arm around Bella's waist. She grounded him.

"Sam, you know this isn't what I wanted."

Jacob heard Paul scoff before muttering, "pussy," too low for Rachel to hear.

"Are you going to fight me for Alpha?" Sam asked.

"No."

"Are you planning on giving Seth back to me?"

"Seth can do whatever the fuck he wants. Unlike you, I will never force him to do anything." As Jacob said it, he knew it was true. He had always hated being alpha ordered by Sam. He vowed to himself that he would never force his pack to do anything.

This last thought shocked him. So it looks like he did want a pack. Well, maybe not all of them; he'd be happy if he never saw the inside of Paul's head again.

"Good luck with that," Sam muttered.

"Look, can't we just work together or something. I don't want to step on your toes, but I can't submit to you again."

"We can add it to the list of things to discuss with the council tomorrow, " Sam said with a sigh.

"Thank you," Jake said sincerely. "Emily? Can I have a muffin, please?" Jake may be young, but he wasn't an idiot. Emily was one of the nicest people he had ever met, and she could never say no to feeding people.

Emily looked to Sam, who nodded. "Of course, Jacob. It's good to have you back," Emily said with a smile.

Jake grabbed two muffins and handed one to Bella. "Thank you," she said quietly.

Small conversations in the room started up. Jake pulled Bella over to the couch and sat down, pulling her on top of his lap. They sat in comfortable silence, just happy to be with each other.

"So, Bella," Paul interrupted the conversations, "I thought you were into sparkly, dead leeches?"

The room fell silent, and Jacob tensed at Paul's comment. Bella was surprisingly calm.

"Turns out wolves are much hotter," she joked. This earned a few chuckles from around the room.

"Damn right we are," Quil laughed as he high-fived Jacob. Leah just rolled her eyes.

"Too bad you didn't figure that out earlier before you brought another hoard of angry vampires against us."

"Paul!" Jacob shouted at him. "She is an imprint, and you will protect her from anyone or anything that puts her in danger."

"This pale-faced bitch is not part of my pack, and I highly doubt she is your imprint."

Jacob was now visibly shaking on the couch. Bella instinctively leaned in close to him, not afraid and laid her head on his chest. He breathed in her hair and relaxed slightly.

"Enough, Paul," Sam commanded. "We are protectors; we protect all human life, regardless of an imprint."

"Really?" Paul sneered. "You're happy to risk your life, Emily's life, to protect her?" he pointed at Bella.

"We risk our lives every day to protect the tribe. It's what we do!"

"SHE'S NOT PART OF THIS TRIBE!" Paul yelled.

The room fell deathly silent.

Jacob had had enough. He needed to get out of there before he did something stupid, like kill his future brother in law.

He moved so Bella could stand, and he stood behind her. He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the front door.

"Seth, we are heading to your Mom's place. Are you coming?" Jake said through gritted teeth.

"Sure, sure," Seth said as he headed out behind them.

As Bella passed Paul, she paused and said, "I'm sorry, Paul."

"Fuck you, Swan," he mocked.

Jacob ground his teeth together. If Paul wasn't hiding behind his sister, he would take him out right here.

"It's nice to see you again, Rachel," Jacob said with false sincerity as he stormed out the door. There was a satisfying bang as he slammed the door behind them. Dust fell off the shingles on the outside wall from the boom.

Jake opened the car door for Bella and moved around to the driver's side door. He took a deep, steadying breath. He was deciding whether or not to go back in there. His wolf was demanding punishment for someone treating his imprint like that.

"Jake," Bella called out; he could hear her, even through the shut windows. "I need to see Charlie, and I need you to be with me. Please?"

Once again, Bella seemed to unconsciously know the right thing to say. An imprints needs came above everything else.

He took another deep breath before opening his door and getting in.

"Thank you," she whispered as she took his slightly trembling hand, brought it up to her mouth and kissed it.

As they drove, Seth leaned forward and put his hands on Bella's shoulders and squeezed them. "They'll come around," he said.

"I'm not so sure, but thanks, Seth. I've burned a lot of bridges. I deserve it and more."

"No!" both the boys said at the same time.

"It's okay. I'll find a way to fix it," she said with a smile.

While Jake was plotting on how to kill Paul without destroying his sister, his Bells was thinking of something nice to do for them. "I love you," Jake said, proud of her.

"I love you, too," she replied and kissed his hand again.

They had arrived at Sue's; Seth jumped out immediate and went inside.

"Are you ready for his?" Jake asked.

"Not really. I hate lying to him. So I'll just have to spin some variation of the truth."

"Come on, we'll do this together."

"I like the sound of that."

Bella walked slowly up the front steps with Jake, holding his hand, as Charlie came out the front door.

"Bella!" he said as he pulled into a hug, eyeing their hands entwined together.

"Hey, Dad," she sighed, hugging him back.

"Jake," Charlie said, holding out his hand to shake it. Jake had to let go of Bella. "So she found you?" Charlie asked.

"Something like that," Jake said.

"You had both better come inside; you two have some explaining to do."

Bella and Jake looked at each other and grimaced as they following Charlie through the front door. Inside, Seth was calmly chatting with his Mom. Bella was very nervous about Sue's reaction, as well as Charlies; she had endangered her only son and taken him on an impromptu road trip to Canada.

This reminded her, "Dad, where are Mom and Phil?"

"They went home yesterday after it was clear the wedding wasn't going to happen. Phil had to get back to training," Charlie explained. That sounded about right.

"Look, I just want to say sorry to both of you," Bella said, looking at Charlie and Sue. "I've made some bad decisions lately, and I've hurt a lot of people. I take full responsibility for it all."

Charlie sighed, "why did you do it, Bells?"

"I made the wrong decision months ago when I chose Edward over Jacob. I tried to postpone the wedding but was convinced to keep going with it. By the time I finally got up the courage to do something about it, it was the night before the wedding. I freaked out, and I admit I didn't go about it the right way. For that, I'm sorry. But, I'm not sorry about choosing Jake." Jacob squeezed her hand when she said the last sentence.

"I get that, honey, don't get me wrong. I'm glad you didn't marry Edward. He was not good for you. But why couldn't you just talk to me about it?" Charlie said, clearly hurt.

Bella looked at the ground, trying to come up with the correct words. But, just coming out and say, the Cullen's are a powerful family of vampires. Only a werewolf could save her, was not going to cut it.

"I needed Jake… I can't really explain it, but he was the only one that could help me. I didn't have the courage to do it without him." She looked him in the eyes now, hoping he could see the truth in her words.

Everyone else was silent throughout the conversation.

"Fine. Okay, I guess. I don't really get it. But I'm just glad that you are back home, safe… Speaking of which, can you explain to me what happened with the bear attack?"

Oh… she hadn't thought of an excuse for this one yet.

Seth spoke up, seeing that she was clearly flustered. "It looks like someone, probably Edward, reported Bella's car stolen. We were pulled over, and while we were being questioned, a bear attacked us. The police officer saved us by shooting the animal. Although, it was only injured. We escape into the woods, the bear chasing us. But we got away. We ran until we could find the nearest town, where we called Jake, who was not too far away. He collected us a bit later, and we drove home."

"hmph," Charlie thought about it. Bella was not sure if he would believe this story. She was relieved when he dropped it. "What happened to the car?"

"I've spoken with Edward, and he is going to sort it out with the Canadian Authorities," Bella spoke up.

"Alright then, so… ah.. are you coming home with me now?" he asked.

Bella freaked out a little; she was not ready to leave Jake. They'd hardly had any time together, and there was still so much to talk about it.

Sue rescued her, "why don't you all stay for dinner? I could invite Billy over, a small welcome home party. What do you say?" She continued talking without waiting for an answer. "Seth, why don't you get a drink for Charlie? I'll give Billy a call now."

"Thanks, Sue. That would be great." Charlie conceded and headed over to put a game on the TV.

Dinner was pretty uneventful. Charlie and Billy were clearly happy about Bella and Jake being together. However, Leah, who joined them for dinner, was clearly not happy about the whole situation. She didn't actually say anything, but it was written all over the face.

When it was time to go, Charlie got in the cruiser and waited for Bella. Jacob was standing on the ground; she was on a step. On her tiptoes, she was nearly able to kiss him without him bending down.

"I don't think I can sleep tonight without you there," she complained.

"I wasn't planning on letting you sleep alone tonight, or any other night, for that matter. So I'll wait until Charlie is asleep and come in through the window if that's okay with you?"

"I'd love that. Plus, I'd hate for any other unwelcome visitors to stop by during the night," Bella shivered at the thought.

"Hmm, that reminds me. Can you please change your sheets before I get there?"

"Huh?"

"I'm pretty sure they are going to stick like him."

"Oh, yes, of course."

"I love you," he said.

"I love you too," she replied before they kissed. It was a quick kiss, nothing like they desired, but Bella could see Charlie watching them over Jacob's shoulder.

"See you soon," he whispered as she walked towards the car.

Jacob watched Bella and Charlie drive away; he instantly felt it in his bones. He wanted to follow that car, the center of his world was moving away from him, and it was making him uncomfortable.

Leah approached him and sat down on the porch steps. "Can I chat with you for a minute?"

He could hear his Dad still talking to Sue inside.

"What's is it, Leah?" he said rather impatiently; he wasn't in the mood for her snarky attitude.

"I want to join your pack," she said bluntly.

Jacob groaned. He sat down on the step next to her and ran his hand down his face in frustration.

"I don't think that's a good idea. I didn't even want a pack to begin with!"

"I want to look after Seth," she lied. Well, partly lied; it was kinda the truth, just not the main reason.

"We don't want…" he paused.

"Me?" she guessed, "That's new. Look, I'll be on my best behavior. I'll stop making everyone's life miserable."

"You don't like Bella," he stated.

Leah chuckled, "no, I don't particularly like her, but I can keep it to myself. I don't trust her, but I trust you."

"Sam will kill me," he was added to his list of cons.

"Fuck, Sam."

"Tell me why? The real reason."

She paused, unsure if she could get away with another partial lie.

Jacob sensed it, "don't bullshit me."

"I need to get away from him," she blurted out. "I can't stand one more minute inside his head, thinking about her!"

Ding, ding, ding, ding, and there it is.

Jake could sympathize with her, and now he was finally with Bella; he was no longer living that hell.

"I'll think about it," he conceded.

"Thanks, Jake," she said sincerely before going back inside. She knew not to push it any further tonight.

When Billy was ready to go home, Jacob helped carry his wheelchair down the stairs and got him in the car. They drove the short distance to home.

"I like seeing you happy, Jacob. I haven't seen that smile on your face in over six months."

"I am happy, Dad. She finally chose me, and I finally imprinted on her."

Billy seemed shocked at this news. "You imprinted on her?"

"Yeah, I did, last night. It's amazing."

"Well, good for you, son."

Jacob could see the worry on his father's face. "She won't leave me," he said with conviction.

Billy ignored that comment. "Are you alpha now?"

"Yeah, I have my own pack. We need to talk with the council about a way to make it work. I don't want the responsibility of the whole pack just yet. Maybe this could be like a stepping stone or something."

"I'm proud of you, son," Billy said with a gleam in his eyes.

That meant a lot coming from his father. "Thanks, Dad."

When they got home, Jacob helped his father get ready for bed. He took a peek in his old bedroom, still the same, yet he felt like he'd outgrown it. He probably wasn't going to sleep much in here anyway.

He said goodnight to his Dad before leaving the house.

The ride home with Charlie had been quiet. She could see he had more questions to ask her, but he kept them to himself. Once they got home, Charlie put the TV on and continued to watch a game. Hopefully, he wouldn't stay up too late.

Bella changed her sheets, throwing the old ones in the washing machine. She opened the window of her childhood bedroom to let some fresh air in. It was strange being back in this room. Everything was packed up in boxes around the room, ready to move into the Cullen's mansion. She had to unpack a few of her clothes and put them back in her dresser. She found her box of books and pulled them out, putting her favorite's back on the bookshelf.

Sitting on her bed, staring around her room, the realization of what she had done hit her. For a long time now, she had been set on a certain path: marrying Edward, getting changed into a vampire, and settling into her new eternity. Beyond that, she hadn't really planned anything. Edward had always told her what she wanted to do.

Now, she had chosen a different path, and the future was blurry. What was she going to do with her life now? Go to College? She couldn't be away from Jacob for too long, so many online courses.

What did she want to major in? What did she want to do for a career? Where were they going to live? Probably on the Rez, but they didn't have any money. Jacob was only sixteen. Oh, my god, she thought. He's only sixteen! He has to finish school.

She was pacing her room, trying to come up with some solutions, when she heard her name being called. "Bella!" Jake said in a loud whisper.

She ran to the window and looked down at the ground. Jacob was standing there in his cut-offs, but she could see something dark, staining his skin. She strained her eyes in the dark.

"Is that blood?" she asked, horrified?

"Um, yeah," he admitted.

"Go to the front door. I'll come down."

She tiptoed down the stairs. Charlie had already done to bed, but she couldn't hear if he was asleep yet or not.

She turned the outside light on and opened the front door. Jacob was standing in front of her, looking like he'd just come home from war. His hair was a mess; he had bruises around his eyes, a split lip, and a gash on his chest that was still bleeding.

"What the hell happened?" she asked as she let Jake inside. "Did the Cullen's attack you or something?"

"No, this wasn't a vampire," he said, but not offering up another explanation.

"Jake, what happened?" she demanded as she sat him down on a kitchen stool.

"I had an… altercation with someone," he finally admitted.

Bella walked over to the kitchen sink, grabbed a clean cloth, wet it, and walked back to Jacob. She knew who this altercation was with, even without asking. Paul. She started dabbing the cloth over his face to remove the blood. The split lip was healing as she watched. She would attend to his chest once that wound had sealed up.

"Oh, Jacob," she sighed.

"You're disappointed in me," he stated, not asked.

She looked into his eyes; yes, she was disappointed in him. "He's family," she replied.

"Family or not, I can't let him get away with talking about you like that," he said. "I may not be his alpha, but I will teach him to respect you. What he said was unacceptable on so many levels. Sam lets him get away with it because he didn't have the best upbringing, but he can't use that as an excuse forever."

Bella finished cleaning Jake's face, giving him a quick peck on the lips to let him know that she wasn't angry with him. Then, she walked back to the sink, rinsing the cloth before cleaning off the blood on his chest.

"What happened to him in the past?"

Jacob sighed, "his Mom cheated on his Dad with a white guy before leaving them. His Dad became an abusive drunk... Paul tries to hide the memories, but they don't always stay hidden. He blames his Mom for leaving him."

"So, you thought, beating him to a bloody pulp was the best option?" she asked sarcastically.

"I didn't think..." he whispered. "I'm sorry, I should have listened to you."

She lifted his chin up and kissed him again. "Come on, let's get to bed."

She took his hand and led him upstairs. She closed and locked her door. They climbed into her small bed together, there wasn't much room, but Bella was happy to sleep mostly on top of Jake. She placed her head on his chest and hitched her leg over his hip. He held her tight against his slide with his arm, and she fell asleep within minutes. It took Jake a bit longer.

A/N Early update, coz it's a bit of a filler chapter. The next one has a lot more drama. So excited. Should be up on Friday.