Chapter 19

Bella

I was trapped in my dreamland with the copper wolf once more. He had guided me through everything I had seen the last time I slept once more until I was, again, face to face with a crazed Edward. The gore and the venom covering his jaw, neck, chest and hands shook me to my core. This was not at all the Edward I had once loved. He was controlling and manipulative, but he wasn't this… monster.

Oh, but he was. This is exactly who Edward is, my dear. I heard or rather felt in my mind as the copper wolf spoke to me. My eyes grew wide and my heart ached for all of the years I had given him and how much danger I was in the whole time.

You are still in danger child. As soon as the thought was said, the scar on my arm burned, my entire body was a burning cold as if dry ice was fuming from inside. I cried out in agony, surely unable to withstand this amount of pain.

All of the sudden my pain was quelled to the point where even though I still felt like I was freezing from the inside out, I could still keep my eyes open. This was different. Before, in this dream place, anything that was happening was like a movie in front of me. This was back to my nightmares before. It was me it was happening to.

It took me only a moment to notice that same was in the void with us now. He was in his wolf form, a beautiful, giant black wolf. His hackles were raised, teeth were bared, and he was crouched low, aggressively.

I realized that the pain became manageable because Sam was here. I couldn't explain why that was the case, but I thought back to a few weeks ago, how I wasn't as tired or as ill when I was spending time with him. I wanted to be with him more, but I couldn't endanger him.

You are being foolish child. You need the wolf. He needs you too.

There wasn't any time to ponder the copper wolf's words. Edward was creeping closer, and the closer he came to me, the more I was in pain again. Agony was ripping through me once more by the time he was right in front of me. He acted as if he couldn't even see Sam growling fiercely between us.

In a flash, Sam attacked the monster Edward. His head was ripped from his body and caught fire. Edward was gone and immediately my pain was too. Even my arm felt warm where the scar used to be. The crescent shaped scar I'd beared for years, was nowhere to be found.

Sam was back at my side, nuzzling into my neck. He gave me a long lick up the side of my face, which made me squeal and lean back to get away. When I did, he just looked at me with his head leaning on one side with one ear flopped down and his tongue lolling out of his mouth, happily.

Do you understand? I was reminded that this was not real when the copper wolf interjected his thoughts onto me once more.

I nodded. I did understand. I was sick, I don't know why, maybe the venom. Whatever it was, I could feel a little better if I spent more time around Sam, I also am not sure why on that either. I filed that bit of information to think about later. The last thing I was absolutely sure of was that Sam could kill Edward. And I would not get truly better, and be able to live my life to the fullest until Edward was dead.

Sam

Human. I felt human. Finally. I had been a wolf all day. First I had been running patrols with Paul and Embry, then we were tracking a vampire's scent, then we heard the howl of a new wolf.

Leah had phased. Everyone had been surprised because there had never been a female wolf before, but truly, the bloodlines had always produced sons. Billy Black had two daughters, but they fled long before vampires were around to cause them to phase, but I had a feeling if they ever came to visit their old man while a vampire was around, they would have the same fate as Leah.

Leah struggled with her first phase because she was a logical thinker, had been studying the sciences for years, and humans turning into giant, furry, werewolves wasn't quite explainable by anything she had learned. Eventually she got over it and was able to settle down enough to phase back.

The day had been long and my stomach grumbled loudly, so as much as I wanted to go home to shower and climb into bed, I made my way to Paul and Emily's place instead. Emily cooked often for the pack, so I just hoped that there was some food there now.

Thankfully, I wasn't disappointed. Emily had been baking throughout the day. She'd made giant muffins and some fresh bread, which she sent me home with. I think things were still a bit rocky between us because of the punishment I delivered to Paul. I didn't blame her, I know I had been frightening. I didn't ask to be alpha.

In a particularly bold move I decided to go to Bella's house, the one that I had renovated and old Mrs. Thomas was renting to her. I figured I could share the newly acquired baked goods with her. I hadn't seen her or heard from her in so long and I was nervous she wouldn't want to see me.

As I made my way, I decided the instead of worrying over the possibility of her sending me away, or worrying over what it could mean that I wasn't going over there to fuck her, but just be around her, I would think about something productive instead. The vampire stench from earlier.

They hadn't crossed the treaty line, and much later while I was dealing with Leah, I'd sent Jake and Seth to check out the treaty line, they said that there were no signs of hunting. So, my guess was that the vamps from before were Cullens. Jake mentioned that they tended to respect Bella's space, but could this have something to do with why I haven't heard from her in so long?

I'd been thinking about them, remembering their sickly sweet mixed with bleach scent, and I almost didn't realize that I was actually smelling it again. The closer I got to Bella's place, the stronger it was.

I took off at a run, blindly, not thinking about the consequences of running towards what could be a trap. All I could think about was Bella's safety. Then her little cottage was coming into view and I wanted to gag at how strong the awful stench was.

When I got there the first thing I realized was that Bella wasn't home. Bella hadn't been here for at least a few days. The second thing I realized was that in that moment there were three sets of vampire eyes focused solely on me.

Author's Note:

So...

I can really only say that I am sorry that it has taken me this long to update. When I first started writing this story, it was like a whirlwind of creativity and inspiration and then it just died.

Truly, I have never fallen out of love with this story or my other stories on fanfic, I just lost my way with them a little bit. That said, all three have been updated now, and I fully intend to keep that trend going!

I hope that you liked the chapter and I know that ya'll will hear more from me soon!

Happy Reading!

Dahlia