Author's Note:

I'm back! I hope you can all forgive the long absence. I battled hard with writer's block and complete loss of confidence the past two months, and it just wasn't flowing like I wanted. I didn't want to bring you something substandard, so I've been slowly working through it until I was happy with it.

To all of you who have left reviews or communicated by message the past few months encouraging me to continue, you guys are the real heroes. Every time I received one of those, I'd open up this chapter and work a little, even if it was a battle. You guys kept me going so that I didn't abandon this completely, and I'm forever grateful.

I do want to share something amazing that happened for me! While I was battling writer's block on this story, I wrote two Twilight stories for the Bodice Rippers Contest. (That's exactly what it sounds like…super sexy Twilight stories.) That contest came along at the perfect time, when I had completely lost my confidence on this story and my writing in general. The anonymity of it was something I needed desperately.

Well, one of my two contest entries WON 1st Place, y'all! Look, Don't Touch won five awards, including 1st Place, two Judges' Favorite awards, LMFAO Award, and Hottest Foreplay Award. My other entry, Verbatim, won the Most Unique Plot Line award. I am posting them both to my profile today, so I'd love for you all to give them both a shot and tell me what you think!

Look, Don't Touch, the 1st Place winner, is an All-Human sexy-Copward story. There are handcuffs. And they are put to good use.

Verbatim is a Vamp Domward story and a HARD M rating, so be aware of that. Really, it was more of an experiment to see if I could write that genre. But if you like dominant Edward, bondage/submission themes, lust and lemons so sour they'll make your cheeks pucker, you'll be in heaven.

All that said, here is the next chapter of Beyond Unreasonable! The next chapter is already betaed and will post next Tuesday. I want to give special thanks to Fran S. Flower for her incredible beta work, and also to my two pre-readers, BrierLynn03 and Wh1teOw1. You all have helped me more than you know.

Chapter 24

The day went by slowly. Very slowly.

Despite his original intent, Edward didn't go with his family when they followed Jacob and Bella as far as the boundary. When Alice put her hand in the middle of his chest and warned him to stay put, urging him to allow her and the Denalis to escort Bella and Jacob to the line without him, he knew exactly why. And for once, he stood down.

He was in control of himself, but barely. After the terrifying revelation that Jacob was the one who killed Harry Clearwater, however unintentionally, that control was hanging by a thread. He would never have been able to stop at the boundary line, not when Bella was being taken across it by a murdering wolf.

As it was, he'd already started second-guessing himself, questioning his decision to give in and allow Bella to go the moment she was out of his arms.

What if she didn't come back to him? What if something happened on the other side of the line and — despite his best efforts — he couldn't get to her?

What if Albert was still in La Push, disguised as one of the Quileutes, and no one knew it?

Then there was the issue of Bella herself. This was the first time since her attack she would be facing a crowd of people without Edward's support; without his arm around her, fending off anyone who tried to touch her.

What if she had a panic attack — or worse yet, a flashback — and he wasn't there to help her through it? Would Jacob know what to do? Would he know to keep his fucking hands off her and talk her through it, help her ground herself? Edward found that doubtful. The mutt would probably put his grabby paws on her and try to shake her like a damn fool. The very thought had a low growl coming out of him.

So no, he was better off not following her to the line. If he started running, allowing any of his vampiric instincts to take over his body, there would be a good chance he might not even let the two of them get that far. And on top of everything else, the last thing he needed was to make Jacob jumpy when he was in such close quarters with Bella, enclosed inside that tiny little car.

No. Those possibilities were horrific. The best thing he could do was stand right where he was until he got himself better under control.

The entire situation was intolerable. There were just too many things that could go wrong today — and he had nothing but time to torment himself with all of them.

He needed to do something before he lost his goddamn mind. Something besides standing there alone in Bella's house, surrounded by her scent, slowly coming apart at the seams.

The moment he trusted himself to run without tearing off after Jacob's car, he burst out the front door and ran straight home. He went to his Volvo and sat inside, keys in the ignition, and steeled himself to wait for Bella's call.

He wanted to drive to the border — sit right on top of that godforsaken boundary obstacle while he waited to hear something. But he couldn't honestly trust himself that close to the line.

What kept him in check, helped him stay put, was one very clear fact: this was the wrong day to cross that border without a damn good reason. Bella would be surrounded by wolves the whole day, thanks to the funeral. Young ones. Emotions would be running high after Harry Clearwater's death, especially when that death was caused by one of their own. A vampire crossing into their territory — any vampire — could be the catalyst that caused one of those excitable youngsters to phase too close to Bella. And that he wouldn't risk.

No. His path was clear. He would stay on his side of the line unless and until he had clear reason not to.

But sitting in his car with nothing to do but wait, the seconds ticked past even slower — all of eternity, crammed into a few comparatively short hours.

He must have pulled up the location of Bella's phone at least a hundred times.

He knew when she got to the beach for the first event of the day, the memorial council meeting. He knew when she was on the beach. His demeanor rapidly deteriorated when it seemed she was there for far too long. Two hours passed, and still, she didn't move.

It rankled him, made him antsy and impatient.

What was Jacob thinking, keeping her out in this weather for so long? The goddamn wolves might not get cold, but Edward's mate certainly did. She was going to be hypothermic by the time he got her back, and he couldn't even warm her in his arms.

Jacob could, though. Jacob would be more than happy to. Edward didn't even want to think about that. It made his fists clench around the wheel, made him a little too eager to just say enough, turn the key, mash down that accelerator and get his mate back.

But despite the storm raging inside him, nothing external had changed. All the reasons he couldn't go to her still applied — not the least of those being Bella herself, her plea with him to let her do this; to let her have some control over her own life.

And he knew she was right.

Learning to cope with this — the parts of Bella's human life that didn't directly involve him, including Jacob Black — was something he was going to have to do.

And he was getting the full immersion experience on day one.

Awkward silences, at least with Jacob, were a new thing for Bella. Usually, conversation flowed freely between them. It was part of what had always made him so easy to be around, even when she first went to him in shattered pieces while Edward was gone.

But knowing, as she did now, the depth of his feelings for her — not to mention what had happened to him in the woods the previous day — being in the car with him was painfully awkward. She had no idea what to say.

Jacob had put on a good show at her door, with that smile he'd had ready when he first saw her. And then Edward's sudden aggression and their ensuing argument had given him something to occupy his mind for the next few minutes.

But now that they were alone and she could take the opportunity to study him as he drove, Jacob's struggle was apparent. She noticed the tightness around his eyes, the jitter in his hands, the way he seemed to be barely holding himself together. The dark circles under his eyes made it clear he hadn't slept since the tragedy with Harry happened.

She wanted to offer comfort — preferably, without a side helping of false hope about her feelings for him. But she had no idea how to go about that, how to straddle that line. So she stayed quiet.

The silence as they wound through the overhanging trees, driving deeper into La Push and farther away from Edward, was overwhelming. By the time Jacob pulled into a parking spot near the still-deserted beach, they had barely said ten words apiece to each other. And they were still at least a half-hour early for the memorial council meeting.

Despite their earliness, she automatically reached for the door handle to open her door, needing an escape from the awkwardness in the car. But she gasped with surprise when Jacob suddenly leaned across her to grab it and pull it back toward her, slamming it shut.

"What is it?" she asked, shaky and startled — and not just because she feared something sinister might be out there. Jacob's sudden lunge toward her set her heart racing, put her on edge.

It made her acutely miss Edward's steady, careful, comforting presence.

When anyone approached her too quickly at school, Edward's arm was always there, gently wrapped around her, protecting and shielding her. She could lean into him, hold on to him. He wouldn't let anybody close if she didn't want them there, including his own family. And she hadn't realized just how much she'd come to rely on that protection — how much she had taken it for granted.

Without him, maybe she wasn't as ready to face this day as she had believed.

Had he suspected as much? Had that been part of the worry in his eyes when she left him?

Jacob retreated to his own seat as soon as he'd prevented her exit, but she still felt jumpy afterward — as though the panic could set in at any moment. She bit down on her lip and stared at him, and Jacob heaved a huge sigh.

"Look. I hate this," he poured out. "You've been trying not to get caught staring at me ever since we pulled out of your driveway, and we both know why. So why don't you just go ahead and ask me what happened and get it over with?"

That was exactly the dilemma she'd been debating the entire drive. Still, even given an opening, she hesitated. "You told Edward it was a pack matter. I don't want to pry."

He scoffed, just a hint of his usual personality showing through. "Oh, please. That was with the bloodsucker. This is you. If you want to ask, ask."

Her arms ended up crossed protectively across her chest. She still wasn't sure she really wanted to hear the details of her best friend killing one of her dad's best friends, but she couldn't very well tell him that. So she forged ahead.

"Okay. So what happened, then?"

Jacob's fingers reached out and gripped the bottom of the steering wheel in front of him, bracing himself. His eyes were glued to the wheel too. "A mistake. An awful, terrible mistake I can never take back." His eyes cut to her, pleading. "I swear to God, Bella. You can ask anybody there. It was an accident. Just really rotten timing."

His voice was starting to tremble.

"Hey," she cut in softly. "I don't doubt that, all right?"

And she didn't doubt it. Her own presence in La Push was proof enough of Jacob's veracity. Edward had seen his mind. If Jake had committed cold-blooded murder — or anything other than a completely unintentional freak accident, and likely one with some kind of mitigating circumstances — she wouldn't be sitting in his car right then. No matter how much she insisted upon it.

She was a vampire's mate. Given a little space from the situation and from Edward's confusing behavior to gain some perspective, she was only now truly beginning to understand exactly what that meant.

Edward doted on her. He could and would be indulgent with her in the extreme. Anything she wished, she had only to tell him, and it would be hers.

But not if it compromised her safety. That was where he drew the line.

And it always would be.

Everything they had ever argued about, everything he had ever denied her — changing her, making love to her, time alone with Jacob — the common denominator was that he desperately needed to protect her, that he couldn't bear the idea of her being hurt.

Or of losing her to another man.

Those fears were where his natural dominance and possessiveness as a vampire kicked in, made him seem like a completely different person than the Edward who cradled her tenderly in his arms and pressed soft kisses to the top of her head as she slept.

But either way, either side of him, it was all passion for her.

Of their own volition, her fingers found their way into the pocket of her dress, skimming the edge of the little phone he had sent with her. He must be miserable right now. She should text him. Maybe even call him. Let him know she got to the beach safely and she was thinking of him that very moment so he wouldn't worry.

Or wouldn't worry as much.

But Jacob brought her focus back to him, scoffing skeptically at her assurance that it wasn't his fault. She fidgeted uncomfortably. "Jacob, we really don't have to talk about this if you don't want to."

"No, I need to," he insisted. "I need to talk to somebody. I need..." He momentarily trailed off, frustrated, then apparently decided to finish that thought. "Damn it. I need to talk to you, Bella. Everybody else just blows smoke up my ass, tells me how it could happen to anybody and it's not my fault. I need somebody to tell me if that's really the truth. And there's nobody I trust more than you."

She shifted in her seat, uncomfortable with being singled out as holding so much importance to him. Every word he said, she now found herself weighing whether he meant it in friendship...or something more.

But in the end, he had been there for her when she needed him. She could do no less.

"Okay," she agreed carefully. "I mean...I'll try. I'm listening."

"The truth is I was already upset before it happened," he admitted, and it had the ring of a confession. "I'd just heard some... bad news. Sam saw how agitated I was and suggested splitting up. He didn't want me to slip and phase in front of Charlie or any of the kids out there with us. Harry decided to come with Sam and me. I still don't know why." His voice started to break again.

It would have been the most natural, easiest thing in the world to reach for Jacob's hand. Before Edward came back to her, that's what Bella would have done, without question. But now, she quelled that urge. She had to stop leading him on.

"Charlie told me about that," she encouraged verbally instead. "About the group being split up."

Jacob nodded. He looked like he was about to cry. "We weren't very far away, just barely out of earshot. Sam was trying to calm me down. Harry was on my other side, right next to me. And then — just completely out of nowhere — there was a vampire there. Right on top of us."

Bella already knew Albert had been out there. The mention of him still sent a chill down her spine, and she tore her gaze away from Jacob to look out the window nervously. Edward was right. He could still be out there. Anywhere. And as anyone. Her uneasiness grew.

"We never even smelled him sneaking up on us," Jacob went on. "He must have been masking his scent again, imitating one of ours. I didn't figure that out until a few minutes ago, when Cullen went poking around in my head and ID'd him. I thought I'd just been too distracted to notice a random leech sneaking up on us, and I hated myself for it. But if it was the guy who went after you, then that explains it. We know he has...powers."

Bella shuddered. Everything Edward had warned her about so far — every single bit of it — kept happening: Jacob losing control and hurting somebody, Albert venturing onto the reservation and successfully concealing himself from the wolves until he wanted to be seen. Even Jacob's drunken confession of love the night before and his growing feelings for her were exactly as Edward had warned.

What else might her mate have been right about? Was this trip a horrible mistake?

"He was standing right on top of us, grinning at us," Jacob continued. "No...grinning at me. I was between him and Harry. He was close enough to reach out and kill either one of us right where we stood, and I just reacted. I phased without even thinking. Harry was standing too close."

Bella's eyes closed. It could have been Charlie. It could easily have been Charlie. She wished she could run up and hug her father when she saw him later at the funeral, but he wasn't even speaking to her. He thought she was a terrible person.

She blinked back tears.

Charlie was at least ninety percent of the reason she was here in La Push, the reason she had insisted on doing this. She needed to make things right with him. If Edward didn't really mean the things he'd said to her the night before — if he did still intend to change her any time in the near future — she couldn't just disappear out of her dad's life with things between them like this. She had to fix it.

"My dad told me Harry would have made it," she forced her attention back to Jacob. "He was hurt, but he would have lived. He died of a heart attack on the way out of the woods. You didn't kill him, Jake. You were trying to protect him and Charlie and everybody else."

Jacob winced. "Yeah, that's what everybody keeps telling me. Even Sue. She knows everything. But would he have had that heart attack if not for me? Would he have had it right then?"

Bella hugged herself a little more tightly to keep from reaching for her hurting friend. "There's no way to know. Maybe. Maybe it was seeing him...Albert. Maybe it was just his time. I don't know, Jake. But I know you didn't mean to hurt anybody. I know you."

He turned his intense gaze away from her, went back to staring at the steering wheel.

"And yet here we sit. Harry's funeral." His voice was full of bitterness.

There was quiet for a few moments. Other cars were starting to arrive. It would be time to go down to the beach soon. If she was going to ask any more questions, it had to be then.

"How did, um...how did he get away? Um…Albert."

All things considered, it felt like a selfish question. But she needed to know. She needed to know how no one had made the connection.

Jacob sighed, shaking his head like he could push the memory right out of his brain.

"I'm so sorry, Bella. There was no time. Everything happened so fast. The leech ran off just as I phased. Harry was hurt. Bleeding. He started screaming. Charlie's group heard him and started running toward us. Your dad knew we were with Harry, so Sam and I couldn't leave to give chase. Nobody else was in wolf form, so no one knew what was going on. Sam got me phased back and dressed just in time, right before the others found us." Jacob squeezed his eyes shut. "And then all hell broke loose all over again."

Bella's stomach felt like it flipped over. It was hard to imagine anything worse than what she'd already heard, and all of it happening around her very vulnerable father. "What do you mean? What happened?"

Jacob winced at the memory. "Seth Clearwater was out there too. He was with Charlie's group. When he ran up and saw his dad lying there, all cut up and bloody, he..." Jacob shuddered, brought his hands up to scrub over his face before he could continue. "Shit. Poor kid. It's scary enough the first time, even without something like that."

All the color drained out of Bella's face. She vaguely remembered Seth Clearwater. Mostly as a smiley, cherub-faced little kid. "Oh my God. You mean he turned into a wolf too?"

Jacob nodded, pushed out a long, slow breath. "Yeah. We call it phasing. By that time, Charlie was already busy trying to take care of Harry and get some help on the way. But Sam saw it coming. Just in time, he and Quil dragged Seth far enough away so your dad and the others wouldn't see. Poor kid was scared to death. He's fourteen, Bella. Fourteen."

It was hard to process all of that. And Jacob wasn't done.

He shook his head, gave a bitter chuckle. "If that wasn't bad enough, his sister phased late last night. Leah. She wasn't scared, though. More like pissed the fuck off, and being able to hear her ex's mind didn't help. She tried to rip Sam's throat out. He wouldn't even fight back. It took Paul, Jared, and Embry to contain her."

Bella's eyes widened. "A girl? Has that ever happened before?"

Jake shrugged. "No. And not so young as Seth, either. Sam thinks all the stress brought it on for both of them." He shook his head ruefully. "And speaking of stress, every time I phase from now on, I'll get to hear the thoughts of two kids I left without a father." He tried to force a smile, but it was pained. "I'm really not looking forward to that. So if you could just manage to avoid mortal danger for one day, Bells, that'd be great."

Bella couldn't take it anymore. She reached out, grabbed Jacob's hand. He gratefully curled his fingers around hers and held on tightly. "They'll hear your thoughts too," she pointed out. "And they'll know it was an accident, Jake. Just like I do."

He averted his gaze, looking out the window as Sue Clearwater, with one of her children supporting her on each side, made her way down toward the icy beach. They had just arrived, parking nearby. If the way Leah glared over her shoulder at Jacob's car was any indication, Bella just might have been wrong in that reassurance.

Jacob closed his eyes like he couldn't watch anymore. "Too bad that's not enough." He pulled his fingers from hers, signaling the end of the conversation. "Come on. Looks like we're going to be starting early."

Two hours after Bella's phone arrived at the beach, Edward breathed a sigh of relief when it started moving. She was in a car again, most likely Jacob's, finally headed away from that frigidly cold beach. Hopefully, that death trap the mutt called a car had heat in it. Mechanical heat, not body heat.

It was noon. Still a couple hours until the main public funeral at 2:00. He suddenly realized that in the rush to get ready, Bella had nothing to eat that morning. She must be starving.

His phone was in his hand the moment he thought of it.

And then he lay the phone back down on his thigh, where he'd been holding it so he could see the screen at all times.

If Bella needed his help, she would call him. She'd promised. He'd made a big enough mess for himself the night before by not trusting her promises.

He was still reaping his just desserts from that one, even now. Had he not been so unreasonable, disabling her truck when she had already promised to stay put without any real cause for him to doubt her, none of this would have happened. Charlie would never have been stranded at the line with Sam Uley, giving him no reason to tear into Bella about the funeral. And if that had never happened, Bella might have even agreed to reconsider leaving with Jacob after learning it was he who killed Harry.

But by the time that revelation came out, Edward had already lost all credibility in her eyes — cried 'wolf' one too many times, as it were.

No, this particular debacle was on him. And now he had to suffer the consequences.

Despite that knowledge, despite his commitment to turning over a new leaf, his jealousy still tormented him. What were they talking about as they drove, she and Jacob? Just the two of them alone.

His teeth bared, and there was no reason to hide it. No reason to suppress his snarl, either.

Had Jacob enacted his plan yet? Was he in the process of telling Bella all the reasons — all the valid reasons — that she would be better off with him? Edward hadn't forgotten that was the dog's plan for the day. Nothing like watching someone die right in front of you to drive home the point that life was short, and things shouldn't be left unsaid. Jacob had no intentions of letting what might be his last chance slip by.

And now he had her all alone, in his car, with a couple hours to kill until the public funeral.

Bella's phone stopped moving sooner than he expected, and Edward's stomach tightened when he recognized the address.

Jacob's house. That was where he must have taken her to kill time until the funeral.

Were they in the kitchen, eating lunch with Charlie and Billy, he fervently hoped? Was Bella getting her chance to smooth things over with her father, as Edward suspected to be the real motivation behind her insistence to go today?

Or were she and Jacob alone, in his bedroom? Was Jacob telling her how he felt?

Would he try to touch her? Kiss her?

Would she let him?

Would this be the day Edward lost her to a human life, something he had at one time convinced himself was all he wanted for her?

How had he ever believed that? How had he ever thought himself capable of letting her go? How had he ever convinced himself, for even one second, that he could possibly walk away and not fight for her?

God help him. Had he really just told her the night before, when they argued in her truck, that he no longer intended to change her? And then sent her off to Jacob without clearing that matter up? Without making it perfectly plain that if she truly wanted to spend eternity with him, he wanted nothing more than to bite and make her his forever?

Their reunion that morning had been so brief, so rushed. There had not been a chance to cover everything they had argued about the night before...

Like Bella's misapprehension that he didn't want to change her; that he didn't want to touch her.

What else is there for us, she'd challenged him in frustration.

Why had he let her go before he cleared up all those questions?

The very next time he got her alone, he was making it crystal clear where he stood.

On everything…

Bella spent the first half of the council meeting on the beach distracted, nervously peeking back over her shoulder toward the parking lot, waiting for Charlie to arrive.

Edward had told her that her dad left home early that morning, headed for La Push. So, where was he? Why wasn't he here? And why had no one noticed?

Her stomach was tied up in knots. Had something happened to him?

As much as she didn't want to be rude or disruptive, especially with the full awareness that she was the only outsider in attendance and probably shouldn't even be there, she finally couldn't take it anymore. She had to know. So she quietly nudged Jacob and whispered her concerns into his ear.

Leah glared across the campfire at them both, but Jacob put his mouth close to her ear and explained that Charlie had declined to attend the council meeting, feeling it wasn't his place. He was over at the Clearwater house, cutting the grass and doing a few things Sue had been fretting about getting done before half of La Push descended on her house for a potluck dinner after the main funeral that afternoon.

That was the first Bella had heard of any of that. Including the dinner.

She was fairly sure Edward hadn't known about the dinner either. He expected her home right after the funeral.

Apparently, the plan was that Charlie was going to meet the two of them at Billy's house for lunch right after the council meeting and then go to the main funeral and the subsequent dinner at Sue's house with them.

Bella's heart nearly stopped when it hit her that at that very moment, Charlie was alone.

But Jacob read her horrified expression when she pulled back to stare at him with wide eyes. He leaned back in to whisper that Quil was at the Clearwater house too. Sam had assigned him to "help" Charlie with the yard work — by which they obviously meant guard him.

She didn't do a good enough job of hiding the relieved tears that sprang to her eyes. Jacob's face filled with sympathy, and he reached out and took her hand, lacing their fingers together firmly.

And he didn't let go.

It felt so wrong, the heat of his huge hand wrapped around hers, his thick fingers between hers. She was used to long, slender, icy-cold fingers that tenderly cradled her hand like it was made of the most delicate spun glass, soothing and caressing with a painstakingly gentle thumb. Jacob's enveloping hold, by comparison, was oppressive. Smothering. Despite the open air around them, she felt almost claustrophobic.

But there were multiple eyes on them. Whether that was because of Jacob's part in what had happened to Harry or because of the awkward details of their relationship he unintentionally shared with the pack each time he phased, she couldn't know. But she had to resist the overpowering urge to jerk her hand away, to publicly reject his gesture of support.

It got worse when she started shivering halfway through the meeting, and Jacob shifted her hand to his other one so he could wrap his closest arm around her. She couldn't deny that the heat from him felt good to her freezing body, slowing her trembling and diminishing the cutting chill of the wind. But it was all she could do not to push him off and scream, let me go. He was just so big, and he held onto her like she was his.

Jacob needed support, too; she was all too aware. That awareness made her feel guilty for the way she felt about his touch. And so, she kept her mouth shut and endured it.

But her heart didn't stop frantically thudding until they got back to his car, and he let her go to open her door. She breathed a sigh of relief when he closed the door behind her and then got into a hushed conversation with Sam just outside the car, leaving her in isolation for a few brief moments to catch her breath and recharge her batteries.

She wanted Edward, she admitted to herself. Nearly as desperately as she had when he was gone to Brazil for seven months, she wanted her mate by her side.

She wanted his arms around her. She wanted him close to her. Edward alone. Nobody else.

Her fingers reached for her new little phone again, partially pulling it from her pocket. She had lost her chance to call Edward earlier and let him know she'd arrived safely, thanks to Sue's early arrival and the meeting starting early. She should do it now.

But again, she hesitated. Edward would hear it in her voice, all her misgivings about being here now. And she knew exactly how he would respond.

He'd come to find her and bring her home without a second thought.

She was in the process of trying to send him a quick text instead, when Jacob opened the driver's side door. It made her jump, startled — and she slid the phone quickly back into her pocket before he could see it, the message unfinished.

She didn't know why Alice had warned her to keep her phone hidden in her pocket unless she was alone. But she was going to heed that advice.

She wished she had heeded some of Edward's, too.

Jacob didn't say a word all the way to his house from the council meeting, focused on his own thoughts. Bella was grateful for the silence, lost in her own mind.

But the first person she saw when Jacob pulled into the driveway of the little house — a place that had once been her solace, during the long, lonely months Edward was gone — was Charlie.

He was just getting out of his car to go inside, grease-smudged and covered in grass in his outdoor work clothes. He was getting a duffel bag and a dress shirt and pants on hangers out of the car, clearly intending to clean up at Billy's before the funeral.

But he stopped in his tracks, doing a double take when he saw Bella in the passenger seat of Jacob's car.

She forgot all about Jacob when Charlie's face split open with a relieved grin when he saw her. It made the tight ball of worry in her stomach dissolve.

He was okay. Charlie was fine. And he was glad to see her.

"Bells!" he called as she got out of the car. "I thought you said you weren't coming?"

She walked closer, resisting the urge to throw her arms around her father and hug him, tell him she loved him and always would. There was a day coming — and maybe very soon — that she would never be able to do that again.

But instead, she awkwardly motioned back over her shoulder toward the Rabbit.

"Um...Jake came and got me."

Charlie's eyes shifted approvingly toward Jacob, exchanging a quick greeting with him as Jacob passed them and went into the house, leaving them alone outside with the illusion of privacy. She knew he wouldn't be going far.

"Every time I think I can't have any more respect for that kid, he proves me wrong," Charlie remarked with clear admiration when Jacob was gone. But his eyes narrowed as they returned to Bella's face. "On the other hand, I take it Cullen had better things to do today."

Her guts clenched. She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to fight anymore. Not with Edward, not with Jacob, and not with Charlie. "That's not fair, Dad. It's not like you exactly make him feel welcome."

Charlie shrugged. "I have eyes, Bella. I know who's always been there for you when it counts. And I know who hasn't. Or isn't."

"He'd be here with me if he could," she defended. Charlie had no idea just how much Edward wished he could be there with her. "He just...he really can't."

Again, Charlie shrugged, more flippantly this time. "Public funeral. What's stopping him?"

She bit her lip, shaking her head. "You have it all wrong, Dad. I can count on him, okay? He's there for me."

A sigh escaped her father. "Not from where I'm standing. But come on. Let's go inside and get something to eat."

Back in Forks, Edward was gripping his phone between tense fingers, staring at the three little moving dots beneath the text message he'd sent to Bella before he gave her the phone that morning.

I love you more than anything he had sent, just to open a text thread between them, one she could easily reply to if she wanted to communicate with him while she was gone. If you need me, I'm right here.

At least once every fifteen minutes or so, as he sat in his car, he'd cycled through a little mental checklist: check her phone's location, check his text messages to make sure he hadn't missed a text from her, check his recent calls and voicemail to make sure he hadn't missed her call.

Honestly, he didn't really expect to hear from her until she was ready to be picked up. He hadn't even expected her to find his text. He was just being thorough. And maybe a little sentimental and besotted.

But when he checked the text thread this time, shortly after Bella's arrival back at Jacob's house from the beach, those three little dots beneath his words bottomed his stomach out.

Bella was texting him. Right at that very moment.

It should have comforted him.

What it did was scare the living fuck out of him.

Had something happened? Was she hurt? Did she need him?

He was holding his breath, waiting for the message to come through, trembling with the effort to keep his fingers relaxed enough that he wouldn't crush the fragile but all-important device between them.

Those three little dots just kept moving, taunting him. No message came.

Two and a half minutes later, he was still staring at it, growing more frustrated by the moment.

He checked her location again, still at Jacob's house.

What the fuck did this mean?

Had something happened? Was she trying to text him for help, and someone stopped her?

Was she lying somewhere, bleeding, unable to finish her message?

What the hell was going on?

He couldn't take it anymore. He typed out a quick message. Just one word.

Bella?

Seconds ticked past. The three little dots kept dancing around on the screen, falsely promising him some type of response that stubbornly refused to come.

He was less than ten seconds away from a very dangerous decision when his phone rang.

It was her. Or at least her phone. His stomach bottomed out again with the fear it might not be her on the other end of the line.

"Bella, are you okay?" he answered quickly, roughly. His voice was gravel.

"I'm fine! Sorry!" Her voice was hushed, as though she didn't want to be overheard, but relief shot through him at the sound of it. "I meant to let you know I got here okay."

He leaned his head back against the seat, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath to calm himself. As his initial terror began to subside, his immediate next concern was to hide his protective frenzy, try to prevent her from feeling smothered. He made an effort to even out his tone, sound calm and casual.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." His voice only trembled a little. "It looked like you were trying to send me a text, but it never came through."

She gasped with alarm. Despite his pretense, it was clear she could read between the lines. She knew exactly how anxious that would have made him.

"Oh, no! Edward, I'm so sorry. I tried to send you a message from the beach earlier, to let you know I was okay, but Jacob came back before I could finish it. Alice said I shouldn't let anybody see the phone, so..." she trailed off uncertainly, clearly trying to gauge just how much trouble she might be in.

That image made him wince. He did not want Bella thinking of him in those terms, regardless of what she'd done.

She'd made exactly the right decision, either way. He and Alice were in full agreement on her phone's existence staying a secret. He'd set it on silent for that very reason, and Alice had provided that dress with a deep pocket to conceal it. If no one knew she had it, no one could take it from her — Jacob included.

No, he had no problem with her breaking off her message to keep her phone hidden, despite the alarm it had caused him.

But there was another part of what she'd just said that had his teeth grinding.

"You said Jacob came back. Do you mean to tell me he left you somewhere alone?"

So help him, the dog would swiftly die. Well…not too swiftly.

"No, no! He was right outside the car, talking to Sam. He's been with me every second. I promise."

Except...

"Where are you now, Bella?"

"Hiding in the bathroom. I felt the phone buzz when you texted me, so I came in here to check it."

So that was why she was whispering. If anyone, even Alice, had ever told him he'd be ready to have a panic attack because his mate wasn't within a wolf's reach...

"You should get back to Jacob. It's not safe for you alone. I'll be waiting to pick you up as soon as the funeral ends."

"Um...about that." He could literally hear her start fidgeting. He squeezed his eyes shut more tightly, his muscles coiling in rebellion. Instantly, he knew what was coming.

This waking nightmare was about to get extended. Nothing else would make her sound so nervous about his reaction.

She knew him so well.

"Bella..." He tried to keep the growl out of his tone. He was not in any way successful.

"There's a dinner at the Clearwater house after the funeral," she told him all in a rush. She paused a beat. "I didn't know about it until a few minutes ago. But Charlie's going to be there."

It was the hopeful tone in her voice on that last sentence that did him in, caused his chest to tighten. She was desperate to get back into her dad's good graces, and he couldn't claim ignorance as to why.

To be with him forever meant she would have to give her dad up...forever.

It wasn't like he didn't already suspect the main reason she'd been so desperate to get to La Push today. He'd listened from outside in the pouring rain, after all, while Charlie lit into her the night before. Her father had all but written her off, at least to Bella's ears. She didn't have the advantage Edward did, of seeing the man's mind — seeing that he was only so hurt and angry because of how deeply he loved his daughter, how much he missed her.

If there was anything Edward could relate to, it was being driven to the brink of insanity by love for Bella Swan.

Nonetheless, he wanted to put his foot down and insist on Bella returning to Forks the second that funeral ended. His endurance for this situation had long since worn thin at best.

Had he not been reasonable enough for one day?

But then he vividly remembered the night before, staring up at her closed window from outside. He remembered the lonely, desperate, gut-wrenching feeling of not being welcome in his mate's presence.

He remembered exactly what it did to him when she screamed at him not to touch her and then ran from him.

He remembered the insecure terror of questioning whether she meant permanently or just until she cooled down.

He remembered how very, very close he had come to giving in to his monster when it urged him to give chase, throw his mate over his shoulder and carry her off with him.

He couldn't handle that again. Any of it. Not ever.

And he remembered exactly what he had done to cause it.

He slowly exhaled. He set his mental clock to endure a few more hours.

"Just stay within Jacob's sight. Don't stray too far from him. I know you want to spend some time with Charlie, but no wandering off alone. Charlie can't protect you. Promise me, Bella."

"I promise."

Her reply was too hasty, too unconsidered, and even that worried him. He had the feeling she'd have hastily promised just about anything to get him to agree to her staying later, without even thinking about what she was saying.

Maybe this would have been a good time to try proposing again...

His tone went stern, even as his words softened. "I mean it. You've taken my heart with you, Bella Swan. I want it back safely."

That time he got through. Her voice was breathless. "I know. I'll be careful. I really will."

His keen ears heard what sounded like a knock on the door through the phone connection, shooting renewed tension through every muscle in his body.

"Bells? You fall in?"

Jacob's voice. He relaxed slightly. At least the mutt checked on her. The ungentlemanly crudeness of his methods may have set Edward's teeth on edge, but he was protecting her.

"I'm fine!" he heard Bella call, much louder than she'd spoken to him.

Jacob didn't do the gentlemanly thing and back away from the door. "Charlie and Billy said they'd clean up lunch. You wanna go hang out in the garage?"

Edward's guts twisted. He'd picked enough details from Jacob's brain after returning from Brazil to know that the garage was where the two of them had spent the majority of their time alone while he was gone, working on those death-trap motorcycles. An ill-advised project that had resulted in a permanent scar on his lovely mate's otherwise perfect forehead.

Jacob's mark on her body, essentially. He hated that thought with a passion.

When he bit her, changed her, Jacob's mark would heal. It would fade and vanish, right before his eyes.

His own mark, his kiss of death that made her forever his, never would. It would be undetectable to human eyes. But he'd be able to see it on her neck for eternity — as could any other vampire who might covet his mate.

Even that soothing thought couldn't tear his mind wholly away from what might soon be occurring in that godforsaken garage in La Push.

It was the place Jacob had fallen in love with her — and where, Edward suspected, she had fallen at least a little bit in love with him too. At the very least, it was where Jacob had earned her seemingly unshakable trust and loyalty.

What better place for the dog to enact his plan to make sure Bella knew she had options?

Was it about to happen?

"That's fine. I'll be out in a second," Bella called, and Edward irrationally wanted to instruct her to lock the door and stay put. But then she whispered into the phone. "I've got to go. I love you. Bye."

And long before Edward was even remotely ready for it, the line disconnected.

The next hour and a half crept by as Edward's imagination continued tormenting him about what was happening in La Push.

It was quiet, sitting in his car in the spacious Cullen garage. Too quiet. Very few sounds came from within the house, which was near deserted.

Esme and the Denalis had taken the opportunity to venture out for a hunt since they wouldn't be needed for a few hours while Bella was in La Push.

Jasper was gone too. He had traveled to Seattle to take Carlisle's place.

Carlisle had found it necessary to return to Forks for one very mundane reason: he had a shift to work in the emergency room at the hospital. There was only so much personal time he could take without drawing unnecessary attention and gossip to himself and his family.

To Edward's consternation, prior to leaving Seattle, Carlisle had indeed managed to make contact with the member of Victoria's army who had drawn his attention. Though very young and lacking any control over her thirst, she seemed at least somewhat receptive to the idea of their lifestyle.

To Edward, she was nothing more than an additional complication he wanted no part of, one that only further divided his resources for protecting Bella. But Jasper was all too eager to volunteer to take over that situation for Carlisle. He had experience dealing with newborns, and he felt he was best able to gauge whether this one represented any type of threat.

If anything, Jasper was intrigued by the idea of training a new member of the family. He favored the idea of not being the one with the least control over his thirst anymore. Plus, if he was personally in charge of dealing with this newborn, he could make sure she possessed no talents or intentions that could possibly pose any risk to his beloved Alice — his primary motivation for every decision he made, just as Bella was Edward's.

So only Alice, Emmett, and Rosalie remained in the house. And Edward had completely tuned them all out for a little while, given that none of them — including Alice, thanks to the wolves — would have any more information than he did. Therefore, there was simply no point in listening to them.

He wasn't sure he would have wanted to see Alice's visions anyway, even if she could see what was going on in Jacob Black's garage. He was perfectly capable of tormenting himself well enough with his own imaginings.

Breathing wasn't really necessary for him, or at least it never had been since he was changed. Nevertheless, he felt like he was suffocating — like he couldn't get enough air into his lungs.

Something was squeezing his chest, constricting tighter and tighter.

What was happening in La Push? Would Jacob force her to finally see reason? Would he succeed in convincing her how much better off she would be with him, unchanged, in the human world?

For all his newly made promises to himself about putting his possessive behavior in check, Edward was frighteningly certain he'd been lying to himself about all of it — including his longstanding vows to let her go if she ever wanted to move on. He couldn't just give Bella up without a fight.

No. He'd dismantle Jacob Black into tiny pieces if he dared lay a finger on her.

And he would enjoy it.

It was precisely 1:38 when he finally breathed a little easier – and that was only because Bella's phone had just started rapidly moving away from the Black home again.

They were back in the car. Still alone, but with Jacob's hands on the steering wheel, thankfully.

By 1:50, she was at the funeral home. The public funeral was scheduled to start at 2:00.

Only a couple more hours now. The funeral. Then that godforsaken dinner that had just been sprung on him.

Then it would finally all be over, and he could expect to pick her up at the boundary line soon thereafter.

Only a few more hours, and then he would have her.

But not before Jacob got one more chance to be alone with her first.

Bella, in that lovely dress Alice had given her, looking so soft and delicate.

Alone with Jacob.

His beautiful, alluring mate was alone with a man who wanted her. A man who regularly and casually entertained vile, obscene fantasies about what he'd like to do with her body.

It hit him all over again, but this time, in a different way.

Bella was still traumatized, for fuck's sake, and nobody knew it better than Edward. When Jacob declared his love today, he'd likely declare his lust too, given how tied together the two were in his adolescent mind. Maybe he already had declared it.

Edward's worries about whether or not those feelings were returned notwithstanding, what if Bella simply couldn't handle it? She could very easily be tipped over the edge into a panic attack, especially if Jacob was too forward with her.

She could be falling apart at that very moment, frightened and wishing for the safety of her mate. And he wasn't there to provide it.

Panic got him by the throat. God, what the fuck had he been thinking to let her do this? It was his job to protect her, even from herself if necessary. Why had he agreed to this?

His whole body tensed up, ready to fight off the entire pack if he had to.

He needed her back. Now.

"Edward!" An urgent voice called his name just as the door into the garage slammed open, and Emmett rushed in, a serious look on his face.

It actually startled Edward, given that he had not been monitoring his family's thoughts.

But he thought he knew exactly why Emmett had just burst into the garage, urgently calling his name. So he still didn't bother looking into his brother's mind. Instead, he just sighed with resigned frustration.

"It was more of an idle, panicked musing than a true decision, Em. Tell Alice to quit worrying. I'm not going anywhere. I wouldn't risk setting them off with Bella right in the middle of them."

But the serious look on Emmett's face didn't abate. "Edward, get in here. There's something you need to see."

That got his mind focused on his brother's thoughts, and he was swiftly out of the car, staring at Emmett with wide-eyed alarm.

"No," he shook his head in denial. "It can't be. That's never happened here, not this late in the season."

Emmett jerked his head to the side, motioning him to come into the house. "Come in and see for yourself."

Less than two seconds later, Edward was standing in front of the television in the living room, watching the emergency breaking weather report with horror.

Snow. Completely un-forecasted snow. Already falling just outside the town.

TO BE CONTINUED…