Previously:

Bella hid her tearful face in Brady's neck and his thin frame was surprisingly solid as he held her up. Slowly, her racing heart went back to its normal rhythm. It took several minutes of Brady murmuring reassurances for Bella to feel like herself again.

"Bells?" A man called out from a ways away.

"Jake?" Bella whispered hopefully.


Chapter 7: Barbecue - Part 2

Bella removed her head from Brady's shoulder to look around for the man connected to the voice. Sure enough, Jake was standing just on the edge of the trees near the picnic area. On closer examination, he didn't seem happy to see them.

"I'm so glad you're back!" Bella called out to him. She looked over at Brady and shared a smile with him.

Jake came closer and frowned as he saw how close Bella and Brady were sitting. Brady had his arm around Bella and looked at her adoringly. Jake saw their connection but didn't want to believe it was true.

"All this time I thought I was losing you to Cullen, and now I see you with him." Jake pointed rudely at Brady, who stiffened and pulled his arm away to clutch the bench.

"How long after I left did it take for you to cozy up with one of my pack brothers?" Jake yelled, increasingly irate. "Seriously, Bella! How many guys are you going to string along?"

Brady sprung up and Bella fearfully grabbed his arm to hold him back. "Don't talk to her like that," he growled.

"I'll talk to her however the hell I want to, kid," Jake spat back with a glare. To Bella he said, "You're really scraping the bottom of the barrel with the pack baby. Trying out a little cradle-robbing, Bells?"

Bella was so shocked and insulted that she didn't notice Brady brake away from her to phase until it was too late. His clothes fell around him in shreds as he transformed into a small brown wolf. His hackles were up and he growled at Jake menacingly.

Jake toed off his shoes and Bella's eyes widened in fear. "Jake, no!"

Ignoring her plea, he phased and lunged at Brady.

"No!" Bella screamed. She instinctively stepped forward but a strong arm grabbed her around the middle and held her back. "Don't hurt him!" she cried.

Jake's reddish-brown wolf was huge compared to Brady's, easily more than twice his size. Fiery hot panic flooded through Bella's body and she struggled in vain to get to Brady. In an instant, Jake's wolf attacked Brady's. They crashed together in a flurry of snarls and bites. Bella could hardly tell what was going on. Then sharp teeth sank into the brown wolf's flank and he yelped in pain.

"Stop!" Bella yelled hoarsely. "Jake, stop!"

Things were not going well for Brady. The brown wolf frantically clawed at the red wolf until he released him. They both stepped back and circled each other.

"Jake, Brady, please stop," Bella pleaded. She fought against the arm that held her, kicking and flailing in panic.

"Someone find out where the hell Sam is!" Paul barked at Bella's ear. He added another arm around her middle to hold against her thrashing.

The red wolf saw an opening and charged. Muzzles clashed but the brown wolf was no match for Jake's much larger wolf. The red wolf sunk his sharp teeth into the other's neck and shook him viciously.

"Stop!" Bella sobbed uncontrollably. Tears welled in her eyes and she frantically brushed them back in an attempt to see.

"Bella, listen to me." Paul spoke into her ear. "I'll go help Brady, but you have to calm down."

Bella stopped fighting and nodded furiously. "Yes! Yes. Go!"

The arms around her loosened slightly. "Don't move, ok?"

"Yes, ok. Just go!" Bella pushed at him, which of course did nothing, but he got the hint.

Paul quickly pulled off his clothes and phased into a large silver wolf. He waited a moment for the right opportunity before jumping into the fray and knocking the red wolf off of the brown one. The red wolf tried to get around him a couple times until the silver wolf bit him. Then the two larger wolves were at each other's throats. The silver wolf pushed the red wolf further away from the picnic area until they were under the cover of the trees.

As soon as they were far enough away, Bella rushed to the brown wolf's side.

"Brady!" Bella cried in panic as she slid down beside him. She could hardly see anything through her tears and she knew she needed to get ahold of herself. Taking a shaky breath, she wiped her eyes and assessed Brady's condition.

He was lying on his side in wolf form and his fur hid most of his injuries. All she could see were wet spots that she feared were blood.

"Can you phase back?" Bella asked in a wavering voice. She reached a trembling hand to the top of the wolf's head and stroked the soft fur there.

When Bella pulled her hand away, the brown wolf opened his eyes and whined.

"You want me to keep petting you?" Bella laughed through her tears. "Some other time, I promise. Please phase back so we can help you."

The wolf nudged Bella's leg where she was sitting next to him, but she didn't understand what he wanted.

"Bella." Paul returned from the trees alone. "Give the kid some privacy, yeah?"

He mimicked spinning with his finger, and Bella realized he wanted her to turn around. The brown wolf nudged her leg in agreement so Bella turned around.

She heard painful human moaning, and it was torture to keep her back to Brady.

"How bad is it? Are you ok? Do we need to get Sue?" Bella asked in a rush.

The only answer she received was a wheezing groan, and it snapped Bella's control. Her hands went to her hoodie to frantically pull it off. She got it unzipped and thrust it into Paul's hand.

"Put this over his lap," she insisted.

Once Brady was modestly covered, Bella turned around and cried out at seeing his damaged body. His chest was half covered in blood coming from several large bites and claw marks.

Tears welled in Bella's eyes and she blinked them away so she could see Brady's face. It was scrunched up in pain and more tears threatened to come.

As she stroked Brady's cheek, she looked up at Paul and asked, "Does he need to see Sue?"

Paul looked down at the kid sympathetically. "Probably. He's breathing funny so he might have a cracked rib or something. At least the blood's already stopped."

Bella held in a sob and turned her head away. Fear and helplessness overwhelmed her. She gave herself one more second to cry and then told herself to suck it up. Brady needed her to be strong right now, not to cry all over him.

With a stronger resolve, Bella started thinking about logistics. "He can't go home like this. His mom doesn't know about the wolves. Should I take him to my house?"

"Not going to happen," Sam said coldly. He showed up out of nowhere, towering over Bella. "You're not taking him outside the treaty line. I'll bring him home and keep an eye on him tonight."

Bella glared up at him. If Sam thought he could show up late and take over, he had another thing coming. "I'm not leaving him," she stated firmly, "but thanks for the offer. I'd be happy to take him to yours and Emily's and I'll watch over him there."

Sam frowned, crossing his arms intimidatingly, but Bella's stare didn't waver as she kneeled next to Brady. He better get over it because she wasn't going to budge. She'd rather beg to stay with Paul than leave Brady.

Sam huffed. "Fine. Paul, carry him to my place. I've got something to take care of first." Sam stalked off into the woods, probably heading to scold Jake.

Paul bent down and picked Brady up, cradling him in his arms. Brady groaned and cursed from the movement.

"Shh. Shh." Bella crooned at Brady soothingly. "We're just taking you to Emily's. Then you can rest."

To Paul she said, "Bring him to my car. It'll be smoother than you carrying him the whole way."

Despite Bella's best efforts, the ride was painful for Brady. Every bump and turn jostled his injuries, and it took all of Bella's willpower to concentrate on the road when he moaned in pain.

"He passed out," Paul told her as they were nearly at Emily's.

"What?" Bella yelled in panic. She quickly checked the rearview mirror and saw Brady lying peacefully in the back seat.

"It's better this way," Paul said as he sat back comfortably. "He won't feel the pain and we don't have to put up with his moaning."

Bella smacked him and Paul just laughed.

They arrived at Emily's house before anyone else, but thankfully the door was unlocked. Paul carried a limp Brady into the guest room. Just as he was about to place him on the bed, Bella stopped him.

She ran into the hallway and grabbed a couple of dark towels from the linen closet. Stripping the covers off the bed, Bella laid out the towels and motioned for Paul to set Brady down. "Ok. I just didn't want to ruin Emily's sheets with all the blood."

As Paul set him down, Bella rushed out of the room again to rummage around in the bathroom. "Where on Earth is Emily's first aid kit!" she yelled in frustration. Brady had grabbed a band aid for her just last weekend. The thing shouldn't be that hard to find.

Paul quietly slid into the bathroom and leaned against the door jam, watching Bella freak out. She slammed cabinets and threw boxes around until, "Aha!" she found what she was looking for. She held up a basket of first aid equipment with triumph.

Bemused, Paul ignored her erratic behavior and told her, "Seth's on his way with Sue."

"Good!" Bella exclaimed with relief. "That'll give me time to wash Brady off before she examines him."

Bella rushed around the house, gathering more supplies and setting them down on Brady's nightstand. When she finally settled down, she got to work gingerly cleaning the blood off Brady's chest and neck. Brady didn't wake up at all during Bella's ministrations and it worried her.

Paul cocked his head, listening, and said, "Seth's here."

Then Bella heard muffled voices from down the hall and Seth appeared in the doorway. "In here, Mom."

Sue rushed in a moment later with worry pinching her face. Bella immediately gave up her seat up and Sue sat down, clucking sympathetically at Brady. "Oh you poor dear! What have you done to yourself?"

Fury welled up in Bella's chest. "Excuse me, Sue, but there's only one person responsible for this and it's not Brady."

Sue looked at Bella in shock over her harsh tone. Bella felt a little chastened but didn't take it back.

In response to Sue's silent question, Seth leaned over and whispered, "Jake."

Pretending she hadn't heard, Bella walked to the foot of the bed and stared down at Brady's injured body. He was wearing shorts now, she vaguely noted, and figured Paul must have done that. He didn't look nearly as grisly with the blood washed off, but now she could see that a large portion of his left side was covered in bruises. He had a large bite mark on the side of his stomach and another on his neck and shoulder area, both of which had blooming bruises. There were also angry red scratches peaking out from his shorts on his outer right thigh.

As Sue pulled out a stethoscope from her bag, Bella said, "He was having trouble breathing when he first phased back. We're worried he cracked a rib or something."

Sue nodded seriously and got to work examining him. The wait was agonizing. Sue didn't give them any indication of how he was doing until she was finished with her evaluation.

Finally, she sat back and said, "Good news. I don't think his rib is fractured, just bruised."

Bella gave a huge sigh of relief.

Sue smiled at the girl but cautioned, "Without an x-ray or a CT scan, I can't be certain, but we can't take him to a hospital for obvious reasons. Make sure he gets plenty of rest and no phasing for three to five days."

"That's it?" Bella was stunned. "Isn't there more we can do? Why hasn't he woken up?"

Sue got up and patted Bella on the shoulder. "The wolves largely heal themselves. Just make sure he gets plenty of sleep and his body will do the rest. I promise you, keeping him in that bed for any length of time will be a challenge." Sue chuckled.

Seth offered his mom a ride home and the two of them left. Bella looked at Brady's young innocent face and the emotion of everything that happened welled up inside her. She swallowed tightly as she gripped the footboard to keep herself upright.

"Can you stay with him for a minute?" Bella calmly asked Paul, who'd been silently watching from the corner.

Paul nodded. His gaze was penetrating and Bella fled the room before he saw too much.

She stumbled through the house, out the back door, and collapsed on the back steps. She tried to take some deep breaths to calm herself, but the memory of Jake's wolf shaking Brady's by the neck broke her composure. She sobbed, curling in on herself and covering her mouth with her hands to muffle the sound. All of the stress of the fight, the worry over Brady's injuries, and the relief that he was going to be ok burst out of her in jagged cries.

After a couple minutes, the door opened and Bella's breath hitched in surprise. She tried to wipe her tears away but her discomposure was clear.

Paul sat down on the step next to Bella. She sniffled. "I thought you were going to stay with Brady."

"Emily's with him," Paul replied. He looked over her red, watery eyes with disapproval. "He's going to be fine, you know. You can stop crying now."

Bella nodded and turned away. She pressed a fist over her mouth to silence herself. Clearly Paul didn't approve of her emotional outburst.

The man next to her sighed hugely and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into him. His unexpected kindness broke Bella's control and she wept into his chest.

Paul muttered under his breath in discontent but he didn't pull away. He gave Bella a shoulder to cry on, even if it was under sufferance.

They stayed like that for another minute until Bella quieted down. Then she pushed away from Paul and he gladly released her. Bella sniffled and muttered a thank you to Paul, who ignored it. Bella was feeling marginally better and she didn't want to be away from Brady for long. She got up and made for the door until Paul stopped her.

"You really care about the kid?" he asked skeptically.

Bella felt like she should've been insulted it was even a question, but she didn't have the strength to care. Instead she simply told him, "Yes, I do."

Paul assessed her for a moment and then nodded. "Alright."

It seemed like he was communicating something to Bella, but she couldn't give it another thought when all her focus was on Brady. Dismissing him, she went back inside.

Emily was sitting by Brady's bedside scrolling on her phone. When she saw Bella's red eyes, she hopped up and gave her a hug. "Oh honey! How're you holding up?"

Bella gratefully hugged her back. "It was really scary there for a moment, but Sue says he's going to be ok. He just needs to rest for the next few days."

"Yeah, Paul filled me in. I'm so glad!" Emily gestured to the chair. "Here, sit. I'll go get another one."

Bella sat down with a sigh and took Brady's hand. "I'm so sorry," she whispered to him.

Emily came back in, smiling at their hands, but didn't comment on it. She set down a whicker chair next to Bella's and took a seat. "I packed up the food and put in the fridge. Sam isn't back yet but I expect we'll see him soon. He and the boys will want dinner."

When Bella didn't respond, Emily placed a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "What Jake did was totally uncalled for."

Bella stiffened. "I don't want to talk about him."

Emily was about to say something but just then they heard a ruckus in the house. "That must be them now," she said. She patted Bella on the shoulder and left the room to supervise them. Lord knows they'd make a hell of a mess in the kitchen if left to their own devices.

Jared popped his head in and asked, "How's the baby wolf doing?"

Annoyed at the moniker Brady hated, Bella replied frostily. "Fine."

"O-kay..." Jared shuffled awkwardly.

Sighing, Bella said, "Sorry I'm a little off right now." She relayed Sue's assessment and assured him that Brady was going to be fine.

Jared gave her a relieved smile. "Good. Glad it's no big deal." Bella frowned but didn't say anything. As Jared was leaving, he slapped the doorframe and said, "Oh yeah! Jake's outside. He wants to talk to you."

Bella's blood boiled at the news that Jake was here. Who the hell did he think we was, showing his face after what he did? Brady grunted in his sleep and Bella realized she'd been squeezing his hand too tight. She dropped it and stomped out of the room.

The kitchen was chaos, packed with wolves, but she managed to pull Emily aside. "Can you get someone to sit with Brady for a minute?"

Emily shot Bella a worried look. "Sure. Are you ok?"

"Jake's here," Bella bit out.

With one look, Emily knew this wasn't going to go over well. "O-okay. Just don't get too close to him, honey."

Bella nodded stiffly and stalked out the door.

She stood on the porch and crossed her arms over her chest. Jake turned around at the noise, but before he had the chance to say anything, Bella spoke up.

"Get the hell out of here," she said coldly.

Jake stiffened defensively. "Sam asked me to come. To apologize."

"Sorry but you're not forgiven, not by me at least." Bella glared tightened at Jake's affronted expression. "Until Brady's awake and can talk to you himself, I don't want to see your face around here."

"You can't kick me out!" Jake bellowed in outrage and he started shaking. "Sam!"

They both turned to Sam, who stepped out from the trees and looked distinctly annoyed at being put in the middle of this. After a moment he said, "She's his imprint. Until Brady says otherwise, you'll respect her decision."

Jake sputtered, cursed them, and ran shaking into the woods. Sam gave his back a long-suffering look and turned to Bella. "You have a real talent for causing rifts in my pack," he said sardonically.

In the mood for telling people off, Bella glared at him and burst out, "Was I the one that beat up a much smaller wolf out of jealousy? No. That was Jake. Was I the one that ran off in the first place? No. That was Jake.

"Yeah, I get that kissing Jake during the newborn fight was stupid. It led him on, but I made up for that. I made it perfectly clear that I love Edward and I'm planning on marrying him. If Jake's causing problems in the pack because he can't move on, that's on him."

Thinking of all the hurtful things that Jake, Leah and Sam threw at her this afternoon fueled Bella with indignation. "Despite what you or anyone else thinks, I'm not here to shove my relationship in Jake's face. I'm here for Brady. I didn't ask to be imprinted on, but I like Brady. He's a good kid, and I'm trying to do the best that I can here. So don't you fucking blame me for everyone else's shit. Jake's got to take responsibility for his own actions."

Bella breathed heavily as her adrenaline began to wane, but Sam just looked at her enigmatically. Realizing he wasn't going to say anything, Bella rolled her eyes and held the door open with a huff. "Come on. Emily's getting dinner ready."