Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in posting this! At the last minute, I decided to add a whole new section to what I already had betaed and ready to go. That new part is still in the beta process, so I was holding off posting. But I just realized last night that I could split the chapter in a way to have that part go at the beginning of the NEXT chapter and go ahead and get this part to you now. So here it is. :)
Thank you to Fran S. Flower for her awesome work beta-reading all this, and to BrierLynn03 and Wh1teOw1 for pre-reading. Also, thanks to Wh1teOw1 for the incredible art they did for Past the Edge of Reason, the prequel to this story. You can see it on my Facebook page, Cheri Goodman. Friend me there for occasional updates about what I have going on.
And finally, please head over to TwiFanfictionRecs dot com and consider voting for one of my two Bodice Rippers Contest stories (Verbatim and Look, Don't Touch) in the Top 10 poll for last month! Verbatim probably has no chance, but I would love to see Look, Don't Touch make it into the top 10. You can vote once a day through July 30th.
Chapter 25 — Searching
Snow. Completely un-forecasted snow. Already falling just outside the town...
Snow.
Every muscle in Edward's body locked into place as he stared at the television, frozen in silent shock.
In stark contrast to his utterly still form, his mind raced.
He was supposed to have months to prepare for this, to come up with a strategy to change the future.
Not hours.
Not with Bella out of his reach when it started.
Alice and Rosalie both sat on the couch. Alice stared at the TV, eyes wide and lips parted with disbelief. She'd seen this coming, of course. She'd seen it coming for months. She'd just never been able to pinpoint when.
Rose was staring too. Staring at him. Her eyes were as horrified as his own, her thoughts deeply remorseful. This might be her fault, she feared. She was the one who'd made absurd accusations against her brother. She had convinced the others of his ill intentions, pushing him to give Bella her own way about Jacob, all in the hopes that maybe the girl would reconsider her foolish decision to throw away her mortality.
She'd known she was making it up as she went, projecting her own regrets onto Bella, her own traumatic experiences onto Edward. And now Bella was in danger because she'd made Edward second-guess himself about keeping her out of La Push.
He couldn't deal with that right then. Nor could he deal with the certainty his sister felt that horrible things were going to be done to Bella in the very near future and that it was in some way her fault.
So he pushed down the initial flare of fury. Rosalie hadn't been all wrong. Some of it, he had needed to hear. And at this point, what portions of this disaster were whose fault hardly mattered.
The newscaster's voice droned on, like the background theme to the horror movie Edward felt like he was living.
"...are calling this the storm of the century. With very little warning, certain parts of the Olympic Peninsula are now bracing for a surprise, late-season snowstorm. Meteorologists call this spring surprise an upslope wind event, with winds from the east getting pushed up into the mountains, creating clouds and moisture. Winds coming from the northwest and winds from the southeast are creating an area of convergence directly over the city of Forks. With the arrival of the record-breaking cold front brought in by last night's storm..."
He stopped listening. He didn't listen to his siblings quietly murmured discussion either, debating whether this was simply a freak natural event or possibly the work of a gifted vampire, perhaps one of Victoria's army.
Again, blame was unimportant. It didn't matter how it happened. He didn't care what caused it.
The snow was coming. That was all that mattered.
Alice's vision had been clear: Albert's attack on Bella would take place as the snow fell above them — covering the ground all around them in its stark white purity, utterly incongruent with the depravity happening in the midst of it.
He hadn't even warned her. He had never told her about the snow — never told her how he knew when Albert's attack was supposed to happen. He'd only vaguely insinuated they had a better sense of the timing now.
She wouldn't know. When the first white flakes swirled around her, she wouldn't know it meant she needed to get back to Forks, back to the safety of his arms, with all possible haste.
The first flakes were already beginning to fall just outside town. It would be snowing in the meadow by now — their beautiful, peaceful meadow, where the future said his mate was going to be brutally raped and murdered by his exact double.
It was beginning to snow on that accursed spot at that very moment.
And Bella was out of his reach.
She was out of his goddamn reach.
"Edward." It was barely a whisper from Alice, pulling him out of his frozen state. She was trying to see his future and couldn't. "What are you going to do?"
Tear the whole goddamn world apart if that was what it took to get her safely into his arms. And then he wasn't letting go for any reason.
His voice was tight, ravaged. "We get her back. Now." His phone was immediately in his hand, her number dialed. "Come on, Bella. Answer me."
Straight to voicemail, which he'd set up for her. His heart plummeted into his stomach when he pulled up the tracking, and it couldn't fucking find her.
No signal.
He pushed down the panic, forced himself to consider the most likely reason behind it.
She had been at the funeral home when he last checked, not five minutes earlier.
It was 2:05 now. The service would have just started.
Bella had turned off her fucking phone for the funeral.
"Goddamnit!" he swore, his voice rising. "Fuck!" He only barely managed not to throw his own phone across the room. If he shattered it, he'd have no way to track Bella if, by some miracle, she actually remembered to turn her phone back on after the service.
He'd tracked down multiple phone numbers before he ever let her leave, as he stood outside her window waiting for her to awaken and either forgive him or send him away.
He tried all of them now. With similar results.
He tried Charlie's cell. Straight to voicemail.
He tried Sam Uley. Nothing.
He tried the funeral home, intending to claim an emergency and demand they drag Sam out of the service to the phone, pallbearer or not.
Nobody answered that number either, which only increased his uneasiness.
"Alice, where are the others?" he demanded with a choked tone and watched Alice's eyes go glassy as she checked everyone's immediate futures.
"Carlisle just got to the hospital. Jasper is in Seattle with the newborn. Esme and the Denalis are starting to hunt. They went pretty far out. Do you want me to call them to come back?"
He scrubbed his hands down over his face. He needed to slow this down. Think. If he panicked, he would give the advantage to Albert.
Bella needed him to stay calm. She needed him to come up with a plan. The most airtight plan of his existence.
It would take at least a couple hours for the ground in their meadow to become covered with snow — maybe a little longer for harsh blizzard conditions to develop, as he'd seen in Alice's vision.
For those two hours, Bella would be sitting in the funeral service and then at the dinner, surrounded by wolves. There was little chance Albert would make his move during the funeral, surrounded by such a heavy concentration of wolves. He would take advantage of the transitions between.
He still had a little time. Precious little. But while Bella was safely at the funeral, he needed to make use of every second of it.
So did the Denalis. As much as he trusted them, he'd prefer to limit Bella's exposure to any thirsty vampires, especially in a situation that held the potential for her to be injured. And if Albert had spies around and caught wind of the Cullens and Denalis gearing up for battle, it might spook him. He might move up his timetable.
"No, not yet. Tell them to hunt quickly and then go straight to the meadow. I want it completely surrounded by the time the ground is covered. Tell Carlisle to stay at the hospital for now and behave as though everything is normal, but I want him on standby too."
"Done," Alice agreed immediately, already making the first call.
"What can I do?" Emmett asked. Gone was every trace of his usual good humor. He stood tense, his muscles tightly coiled, his huge hands clenched into fists at his sides. If any human saw him, they would know something was different about him — and they would likely run in terror.
At the moment, Emmett looked every bit the dangerous predator he was.
And that was a good thing. Because he and Emmett were about to take a hunting trip of their own, and their prey was Albert Rowe.
Edward's phone rang in his hand, almost making him jump. "Hold that thought," he murmured to Emmett.
Jasper's number. His guts clenched, but he answered quickly. Jasper spoke in a low, hushed tone.
"The situation here has changed. Riley just gave the order. The army mobilizes for Forks in two hours. They're passing around two scents, Edward. Yours and Bella's. They have one of her bedsheets. This is going down today. Now."
Edward's eyes closed as he struggled for control. Someone had entered Bella's room that morning, not long after they left it. Someone who had known to stay outside his range until after he left.
Victoria's dying words sprang to his mind. The girl is still going to die; she'd taunted him. It's already in motion. You can't stop it.
This was really happening. Albert was still in control of the army, despite Victoria's death, still giving orders. And he was preparing to make his move. The army was on its way to Forks to carry out its sole purpose: keeping Edward and his family embroiled in battle so Albert could be alone with Bella.
It was a brutally simple plan. And it was one that might just work, especially if the shield got close enough to compromise Edward's and Alice's talents.
"Follow them, Jasper," Edward growled. "Keep eyes on that shield. Thomas. I need to know where he is at all times. If the group splits up, follow him."
"I can do one better than that," Jasper said, lowering his voice further. "I brought a few pairs of red contacts with me. I had a feeling I might need to blend in. I'll convince Bree to help me infiltrate the group, and I'll march with them. If I can find a way to get Thomas alone, I'll take him out. Same goes for Riley."
Alice gasped behind him, and Edward turned to look at her. Her eyes were wide, her head shaking no. He saw the snippets of possible futures in her mind, including one where Jasper didn't need those red contacts to blend in.
"Be careful," Edward grudgingly cautioned, for Alice's sake. "If they come across any humans on the way and start to feed, they'll know you're different."
"They're marching toward Alice, too. I'll do what's necessary to maintain my cover, Edward," Jasper told him tightly, and Edward saw the stricken look on his sister's face.
"That's exactly what Alice is terrified of, Jasper," he told his brother sternly. "You find another way. Do you hear me?"
The hesitation was just long enough for Edward to know he'd gotten through by invoking Alice. "Understood. I'll be in touch."
As Edward disconnected the call, Alice moved to put her arms around him. "Thank you," she whispered. "I know you didn't want to do that."
She was right about that. He hadn't wanted to tie Jasper's hands. Just like Jasper, there was very little he would find morally objectionable in the name of keeping his mate alive. Very little.
But Bella, he knew, would be horrified if he hadn't intervened on Alice's behalf. Blood on his own hands was one thing. He'd been there before. Staining Bella's was quite another.
And at the end of the day, when he got her back safe and sound, he needed to be able to look into his very human mate's eyes and be the kind of man that deserved her.
"Em and I have to go," he murmured, returning Alice's fiercely frightened hug. "You and Rosalie stay here. Keep trying the funeral home. Keep trying to get hold of Sam Uley. They need to know what's coming. See if they'll agree to help. If they fight with us, we stand a much better chance."
"Done." Alice released him but put her hand on his shoulder and spoke to him in her mind only, where Emmett couldn't hear. "Edward...I know what you're planning. If you cross the border line, I can't see what happens to you. But I can tell you that Bella's future doesn't change because of it, and now Emmett's isn't certain either. Don't cross the border unless there's no other way."
That was sobering. "Understood," he murmured softly. "Come on, Emmett. Let's go."
During their exchange, Emmett had quietly shared a hasty but passionate goodbye with Rosalie. He was all but bouncing on his toes with anticipation now.
"We going to La Push?" He cracked his knuckles. "I've always wanted to fight a wolf."
"Not unless that's where the hunt takes us. We're going to track down Albert," Edward gritted through clenched teeth. "And I know exactly where to start."
Harry Clearwater's funeral service never ended up happening.
At 2:05, at the beginning of the funeral, it all went sideways. Sue Clearwater suddenly collapsed onto the floor halfway down the center aisle while being escorted into the chapel to be seated.
And then chaos ensued.
Everyone seemed to be talking at once. Moving at once. A crowd started to gather around the unconscious widow. But Charlie got to her first, rendering what first aid he could while paramedics were called. He was able to establish that she had a pulse and was breathing, though both were faint. He got her onto her back, propped up her head and shoulders, and did his best to keep her stable until help arrived, all while keeping everybody back.
Bella felt completely paralyzed, frozen in place until she heard the thud of Jacob dropping back heavily onto the hard pew where they sat. His head dropped into his hands; his elbows propped on his knees. He'd lost all color, from what she could see. Nobody was paying attention to them. Every eye was on Sue Clearwater and Charlie Swan.
Bella sat down next to Jacob, putting an arm over his shoulders. "Jake...Hey. Jake. This is not your fault. Look at me."
"She has to be okay." When he looked up, his eyes were wild, desperate, searching hers. "Sue can't die, Bella. She can't. I can't kill both of them."
"You didn't kill anybody," she stage-whispered back, trying to keep her voice down. Jacob just dropped his head back into his hands, his leg bouncing up and down with agitation.
A few minutes passed. Not very long, but it seemed interminable. Bella's arm stayed around Jacob, her eyes glued to her father where he knelt beside Sue Clearwater, trying to bring her around. She couldn't bring herself to look at Sue, so she kept her eyes on Charlie.
Eventually, her dad's head shot up, looking toward the back doors. His expression was filled with relief. "All right, everybody out of the way!" he ordered authoritatively. "Clear the aisle!" It was almost strange to see how immediately everyone obeyed her laid-back father when he was in police mode. To her, he was just Charlie and always would be. She looked back to see the paramedics pushing a gurney down the aisle toward them.
Things happened fast after that. She would remember it later in flashes, not a direct sequence of events...
The paramedics checking Sue's vitals.
The sound of the squeaking wheel as Harry's wife was soon rolled out on the gurney, right past where Bella and Jacob sat.
The funeral director clearing his throat, asking for everyone's attention, informing the gathered mourners that the service would be postponed, and to check the website for rescheduling details.
The hushed, excited jabber of the crowd as everyone began to disperse.
Then there was a haunted-looking Charlie appearing right beside Bella and Jacob a few seconds later.
"You okay, kid?"
He didn't look so okay himself. Bella wasn't even sure if he was talking to her or Jacob, but Jacob was in no condition to answer.
"Yeah, Dad. I'm fine. Are you okay?"
Charlie shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. His voice was thick. "I think so. I really don't know." He cleared his throat, eyeing Jacob. "You need a ride home, Bells? I guess I'm headed that way."
That caught Jacob's attention. His head shot up before she could reply, and Bella let her arm slide off his shoulders back into her own lap. Jacob sniffled, quickly composing himself. "No. I'll bring her home in a little while. I mean, if that's all right with you."
And of course, that was just fine by Charlie. The idea of Bella spending more time with Jacob was one he liked. A lot. The corner of his lip pulled up. "Yeah, take your time. No rush. You kids get out of here. Go do something fun. Try to take your mind off things; enjoy yourself a little."
Bella really would have preferred to go with Charlie, but she had promised Edward she would stick close to Jacob until she was back on the Forks side of the line. And so, she nodded her agreement, trying to force a smile for Charlie.
"I'll see you at home, Dad. Be careful."
Charlie gave her a sad smile. "Always am. I'll see you tonight."
"Okay."
The silence was oppressive when Charlie walked off. Neither of them seemed to know exactly what to say. Jacob sat bent forward with his elbows propped on his widespread knees, staring down at his clasped-together hands.
Bella fidgeted nervously. "I should, um...I should find a way to call Edward. Let him know the funeral's not happening."
Jacob scoffed, more bitterly than usual. "Why? So he can make you come straight home? Time for the prisoner to turn herself back over to the warden?"
After her argument with Edward the night before, the disabling of her truck, that snide comment hit home more than she would have liked. She stiffened, instantly defensive. "It's not like that, Jake."
He snorted. "Whatever. He says, jump, you ask how high. I'm not blind, Bella." A long, resigned sigh slowly pushed its way out as he straightened, only to lean back and slump down into the seat. He looked up at the ceiling and gave a bitter little chuckle. "I may be an idiot, but my eyes work just fine."
Anger flooded through her, so intense her vision blurred. "You know what? You're right. You are an idiot. I'm going to see if I can catch Charlie. Bye, Jake."
She stood, but she had nowhere to go. Jacob sat on the aisle end of the pew, long legs all sprawled out, and there was only one entrance. The other end jutted up against the side wall of the tiny chapel. Unless she wanted to either climb over the pew to the next row, crawl underneath it, or climb over Jacob — in a dress — she couldn't get out if he didn't move.
They were the last ones left in the little chapel, she noticed now.
Her breath caught in her throat. It was just Jake. But the feeling of having her only exit blocked by a guy three or four times her size had her lungs squeezed in a vise.
It didn't help when Jacob rolled his eyes and grabbed her wrist, lightly pulling her down to sit back beside him. "Oh, give it a rest, Bella. Charlie's halfway back to Forks and a nap by now. Unless you want to walk, you're stuck with me."
He succeeded in pulling her back down, but she didn't stay. No sooner than she landed beside him, she popped back up, yanking her wrist out of his grasp.
"Let me go," she hissed, backing away, staring him down. And Jacob's eyes widened.
His hands came up, showing her his palms. "Whoa...easy, Bells." He paused a beat, studying her incredulously. Then he got defensive. "What the hell is the matter with you? It's just me."
She tried to slow her erratic breathing. Feeling scared of her best friend's touch was bad enough. Being made to feel ridiculous about it was even worse. Not for the first time, she felt like she needed to apologize for her feelings — feelings over which she had no control whatsoever.
"I'm sorry. Just don't...don't grab me like that, okay?"
Jacob blinked in surprise, and he softened. "Yeah. Okay. Sorry."
She pulled her lower lip between her teeth, her face flaming. She couldn't quite meet his eyes. She knew exactly why he'd just backed down for once...because she knew precisely what he'd just vividly remembered in his mind's eye.
Her, naked and crying. Underneath Albert when he found her.
That look on his face? It wasn't understanding. It was pity. She recognized that for what it was by now. And she fucking hated it.
"Will you just take me home?" she choked out.
Jacob was still eyeing her warily. "Sure, sure. Come on. I'll just, um..." He awkwardly stood and backed out of the pew, too slowly and over-exaggeratedly, like she was particularly volatile dynamite that might explode any moment.
That was another thing she'd taken for granted with Edward: how naturally he soothed her and played it off when this happened in his presence.
All those nights working in their little cottage, when she would get antsy or jumpy, and Edward would either quietly give her some space or invite Alice down to join them...
All those times at school that she'd suddenly dug her nails into him because someone moved too quickly toward her, and he would just hold her closer and angle his body to keep them away...
Every single time, Edward had always been respectful of her feelings.
Never once had he made her feel like she was in the wrong for it. Never once had he made it more awkward, made any kind of implication that she was overreacting.
If anything, he'd blamed himself. He'd gone out of his way to make her as comfortable with him as he could.
It made her want Edward's presence so badly at that moment that she thought she was going to cry. She wanted to be in his arms, where she would feel safe and protected again.
But he was nowhere near. He would just assume she was at the funeral and then at Sue's house for dinner for the next couple of hours. He had no way of knowing plans had abruptly changed. She couldn't call or text him without Jacob seeing her phone, which she was still trying to avoid because of Alice's warning.
Panic bubbled up, closing off her throat, but she shoved it down.
It was going to be okay. Jacob was taking her home. She could call Edward as soon as she got there.
She could make it until then.
Fifteen miles outside Forks, in an isolated stretch of forest, Edward and Emmett slowly approached the abandoned little hunting shack that Edward had seen in Victoria's mind moments before she drew her last breath.
Albert's hiding place. His and Victoria's base of operations outside Forks.
This hadn't been the original plan, going after Albert next. Edward had wanted to first pick off Albert's helpers, one by one.
Riley. Thomas the shield. As many of the army as didn't immediately disperse and go their own way.
Those were all supposed to die first. He'd wanted Albert devoid of anyone who might help him. Completely alone and vulnerable before Edward made his move.
First and foremost, he just wasn't taking any chances. He'd promised his mate he would stay safe for her, and he'd meant that promise.
Secondly, his primary focus in recent days had been Bella, not revenge. He had only just got her back, and she had been both physically and emotionally damaged when he did. Despite his monster's almost savage craving to brutalize her attacker, leaving Bella's side to go chasing after Albert was something he wasn't quite ready to do just yet, not when Alice's vision had told him there was plenty of time to plan.
But beyond those reasons, he'd wanted Albert to feel at least a modicum of the fear Bella had felt at his hands. Taking a page out of Rosalie's playbook, he'd wanted the bastard to know it when he was finally next.
But now, that timetable had been pushed up. Way up. The snow was already falling. Soft, cold flakes stuck in Edward's hair, brushing his nose and cheeks, his hands, as he and Emmett slowly approached from the back side of the rundown shack. Each gentle flutter against his skin was a solemn reminder that his time was running out.
"Is he in there?" Emmett asked in a low voice.
Edward shook his head, his brow furrowed. "I can't hear him. But the scent..." He shook his head. "You smell it too. It's too strong. The scent says he's right here, close by. But he can't be if I can't hear him. Not when we know the shield is in Seattle with Jasper."
He watched the vivid memory spring immediately to his brother's mind, just before he verbalized it. "Don't trust anything you smell," Emmett cautioned gruffly, reliving his memories of himself and Jasper attempting to track Albert down when he had first taken Bella. "His false scent trails last for hours, and he can leave lots of them. He can make you believe they're anybody he wants to. Half the time, our noses told us we were tracking you, and we weren't even on the right trail. We were following nothing."
Edward's teeth clacked together violently with a snarl. The reminder of Bella being missing, in the hands of a demented vampire masquerading as him, flooded him with fury.
That was not happening again. He wouldn't let it get that far.
"Come on. We're going in."
Silently and cautiously, the two of them circled around toward the front of the little shack from opposite sides, drawing in ever closer.
But as Edward drew close to the dirt path leading from the front door, about fifty feet from the building, he abruptly forgot all about caution.
He had just come upon another strong scent trail, this one coming out of the woods directly in front of the shack, leading toward its front door.
And this particular scent was one that hit him hard, ripping through his entire body.
"Bella!"
Her name tore from his throat, every instinct driving him to get to the source of that scent.
He demolished the door as he smashed his way right through it, fully in the grip of his monster. Violence flooded every pore, his body primed to protect his mate, throw her attacker off her and rip him into shreds.
He barely heard Emmett behind him, shouting his name.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. His entire world tunneled down to what he found when he skidded to a halt inside that little shack, his eyes drawn to the filthy floor, dead center of the dilapidated room.
A body.
Naked. Face down.
A woman's body.
Small. Petite. Exactly Bella's build.
Long, brown hair, knotted and matted. The same length as Bella's.
Bella's scent. Bella's scent everywhere. It permeated the entire shack, the body, the air. He could smell nothing else.
No other scent.
There wasn't a heartbeat. There was nothing.
Dead.
She was dead.
He was frozen in place. He'd fallen to his knees at some point. He couldn't move. He felt his soul splintering inside him, shattering into a million tiny fragments, pain searing through him.
There was screaming. Fierce, harsh growling.
The word No. Over and over.
Something grabbed hold of him, wrapped around him, tight and unyielding until the screaming stopped.
It was him, he realized when he sucked in a shuddering breath to go again. He was the one who had been screaming.
"...not her. It's one of his false scent trails. Edward! Listen to me, bro. You can't trust your senses. It's not her. Look. I'll prove it."
Emmett's voice slowly swam into focus. The words barely made sense.
He was in shock, he dully recognized. It didn't matter. He would join his mate in death by twilight.
Wherever she was, in whatever afterlife had taken her away...he would find her. Nothing would stop him.
This would not be the end. Not like this. He wouldn't allow it.
"I'm going to prove it, Edward," Emmett's voice went on, and the fierce bear hug around him released. "I'll have to touch her. Don't attack me. I'm just going to turn her over."
He hadn't even realized he'd started growling again, springing to his feet and crouching to attack as Emmett slowly approached the body, keeping one wary eye on him.
The scent of Bella increased as Emmett crouched and gently rolled her over with one hand, the palm of the other extended toward Edward, an unspoken trust me.
"See? It's not her, Ed. This is a decoy. See?"
Incomprehension. Disbelief. He managed to gulp in a lungful of air, and it still tasted of Bella.
For nearly a century, his sense of smell had reigned over all others — sight, sound, even his mindreading abilities. His mind couldn't wrap itself around what his eyes were seeing, not when his nose told him something else.
But it wasn't Bella's face.
It wasn't her.
"Fuck," he heard Emmett swear while he was still gulping in Bella-scented air in relieved pants, his legs threatening to collapse beneath him. Emmett's tone was low. Solemn. And Edward followed his eyes.
Blood. There was blood all down the front of the dead woman's legs, emanating from the juncture between her thighs.
One glance at that area made clear the gruesome manner of her death. There was a larger pool of blood beneath her.
Two vampires, in a room with fresh blood, utterly oblivious to it. They hadn't even smelled it before. Conclusive proof that their senses had been heavily tampered with.
But knowing the blood was there, Edward could smell it now, just undertones. The false scent of Bella that Albert had left on the body was thick, overpowering, all-consuming. But the woman's own unique scent — combined with Albert's vile venom — began to break through now that the scene had been disturbed.
Emmett looked up at him seriously. "She's still warm. This didn't happen very long ago."
Edward straightened up slowly, stiffly, looking around. He found an old tarp in the corner. It wasn't perfectly clean, but it was the best he could do. Emmett backed off as Edward carefully covered the young woman with it. One more innocent life added to his count.
"You were right." Edward's voice was hoarse, ragged. "What you said before. A decoy. That's exactly what this is. But we weren't supposed to find her yet."
Emmett tilted his head to the side. "I don't follow."
Edward breathed deep, still struggling to regain his control after believing he had found his mate dead.
He could taste the subtle differences in the air now. Bella's scent, but not as sweet.
Albert's false scent trail, his imitation of Bella's scent, was a very good facsimile. But Edward would catch the difference next time. He wouldn't be caught off guard again.
"The trail outside," he explained, "in the front. He left a trail here with Bella's scent. Recently. He plans to take her today, Em. Soon."
Emmett's eyes hardened with understanding. "And you were supposed to follow this trail, here, to the wrong woman. While he gets away with Bella."
Edward nodded. His ears were ringing. "Yes. But Victoria gave this place up. We found it before we were supposed to. We came in from the wrong direction. So we already know there's another false trail out back, one with his real scent — only far too strong, just like this one. Which means..."
"Another decoy. You were supposed to find that after we found her. He wanted you to chase it." Emmett's mouth twisted into a hard, tight smile, devoid of any humor. "So the bastard didn't go that way either."
A tiny thrill of excitement raced through Edward's bones. "No. But he was here, not very long ago. He had to get out somehow. His real trail is out there. Probably masked. But we know how to tell the difference now. If we can find it, we can track him. Run him down before he gets to Bella."
Emmett's excitement nearly matched his own. "I'm with you, bro. Lead the way."
It took a few seconds — longer than it should have — for Bella to realize that Jacob was slowing down, pulling the car off onto the side of the road, still somewhere in the woods.
She'd been lost in her own thoughts, staring out into the small white flakes swirling outside the windshield. She felt vaguely numb; surprised to see them. Had it ever snowed so late into the spring in Forks? She couldn't remember. It was mostly summers she'd spent there, at least since she could remember.
One hand slipped into her pocket, holding onto Edward's phone like a lifeline. The snow made her strangely, inexplicably nervous.
She couldn't get stranded in La Push or anywhere else. She had to get home to Edward.
She needed him. Desperately.
And she hadn't been paying enough attention to her surroundings, she realized now.
She turned to Jacob in alarm. "Where are we? Why are we stopped?"
Jacob's hands gripped the wheel tightly, his thumbs drumming out a nervous beat. "We're back on the Forks side. We crossed the line a few minutes ago. I'm going to take you home in a minute. I am. But I need to talk to you alone first, Bella. Without an audience. There are some things I need to say."
Her uneasiness grew, pushing up from her belly into her chest. She instantly caught his meaning about being alone. If they were back across the line, that meant the shadow they'd had all day would no longer be with them.
An escort of three experienced fighters. That had been Edward's condition for letting her go, after learning of Albert's presence in La Push the day before. Jacob had been in agreement. So Paul, Embry, and Jared had met them at the line that morning and trailed them ever since. They'd sat near them at the council meeting. Even at Jacob's house, when they were in the garage talking about absolutely nothing of substance, she'd known they had been close. Jacob had told her they were in wolf form, out at the tree line.
But the moment they'd crossed that line, back into Cullen territory, the wolves would have turned around and gone home.
The Cullens thought she was still at Harry's funeral. They weren't expecting her for a few hours, so no one would have been waiting for her at the line.
Even now, Alice wouldn't be able to see her because she was with Jacob.
And Jacob knew all that.
He had planned this well. They really were alone. And no one else knew where she was.
Her uneasiness ratcheted a little higher, her pulse pounding in her ears. Jacob's nervous tension didn't help, feeding further into hers.
"Jake...I really need to get home. Edward will be waiting to hear from me."
"This is not the way I wanted to do this," he told the steering wheel, ignoring her completely. "I intended to work up to it. Give you time to realize the truth for yourself before I said anything. But I'm out of time. Charlie made that pretty clear yesterday."
She took a deep breath, tried to calm her breathing. She may not have understood what Charlie had to do with it, but she would have to be beyond dense not to see where Jacob was ultimately headed with this. Her heart was pounding so loud she was sure he could hear it.
"It's starting to snow," she tried the reasonable approach, hiding her anxiety. "The roads could get bad, Jake. We need to get back. Edward will be worried."
She knew she shouldn't have mentioned Edward again the moment the words left her lips. Irritation crossed Jacob's features.
"I don't get you, Bells. Why do you give a damn what he thinks? He's hurt you over and over. He left you, without a word. That other leech attacked you looking exactly like him, and you still just instantly forget all about it and go right back to him. But me, your best friend? The guy who was right beside you through all of it? Not only can you not even spare five minutes to hear me out, but you act like I'm the one you're afraid of."
Her lower lip began to tremble at that cruel reminder of Albert pretending to be Edward when he attacked her. Over time, she'd managed to begin distancing Edward from that painful memory, despite it being his face she saw in her nightmares. She'd learned to separate the two, at least to some extent.
But now, at Jacob's harsh words, all those old feelings came flooding back afresh — the disorientation, the confusion, the terror.
It was too much, all piling up on her again without warning. And something inside her snapped.
"You think I've forgotten any of it?" she shot back at a clearly taken-aback Jacob, her voice rising. "You think things aren't hard for me with Edward too? You don't know anything, Jake."
His mouth twisted into a disgusting smirk, his temper getting the better of him. "It must not be too hard."
She felt like she'd been kicked in the guts at the implication in his tone. It made her skin crawl.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" It was supposed to come out indignant, angry. It was barely more than a pained whisper.
"Just what it sounds like. It can't be too tough being around him if you're shacking up with him now." Her jaw dropped, and Jacob barked out a hoarse laugh at her wide-eyed, shocked expression. "Please. Who do you think you're fooling, Bella? Because you don't fool Charlie, and you sure as hell don't fool me. Just thinking about it makes me sick."
Her heart sped up as the final pieces of the puzzle clicked into place in her head with horrifying certainty.
Jacob thought she and Edward were living together. And she had a horrible idea that she knew where he'd received that impression.
"The bad news you said you got yesterday," she started in a shaky voice and then stopped, swallowing hard. "The reason you were so upset out in the woods, right before Albert came... what was it, Jake?"
His eyes were still angry. "I'm pretty sure you just figured that out."
Her heart sank. Charlie must have been complaining to Harry while they hunted, telling him about his visit from Edward that morning; about Edward showing him the deed to their little cottage, essentially threatening him to drop all his restrictions on their relationship if her father wanted her to remain under his roof.
And Jacob had overheard that conversation. He'd overheard every word of it, but he'd misunderstood.
And that had set the stage for his complete loss of control when Albert appeared.
It had set the stage for Harry's death.
God...she was going to be sick.
Her hand shot out beside her, desperately clawing for the door handle. Somehow, blindly, she found it and managed to wrench the door open and stumble out of the car, just needing to get away. Bile was rising in her throat, but she couldn't stop. She wasn't quite running, but she was walking away from Jacob — in the direction they had been going, toward Forks and Edward — as fast as she could.
Jacob was right on her heels, a few snowflakes already clinging to his dark hair, when she glanced back over her shoulder to see where he was. The wind cut through her, chilling her almost as deeply as Edward's absence.
"Where do you think you're going?" Jacob demanded. "Get back in the car, Bella! You're going to freeze out here!"
"No. If you won't take me home, I'll walk." Her voice was thick with tears. She quickly pulled her phone from her pocket, no longer worried if Jacob saw it or not. "I'm calling Edward. He'll come pick me up."
It took her a few seconds to realize why her screen wasn't responding, her steps slowing as she tapped it several times, waiting for a response. She'd forgotten all about slipping into the restroom at the funeral home and turning off her phone just before the service began, when she saw all the signs in the lobby reminding mourners to silence their phones.
Before she could get her freezing fingers to cooperate long enough to turn the phone back on, it was snatched from her hand. She looked up to find Jacob right in front of her — huge, sturdy and blocking her path.
"Let me guess. He made you bring this so he could track you today, right?" Jacob sneered.
She stared at him in shock for a moment, her lips parted. That thought hadn't even occurred to her before. But now that it had — and without a doubt in her mind that Jacob's assumption was accurate because, of course, Edward would have found a way to keep up with her — she wasn't angry. She just desperately wanted to get her phone turned back on so Edward could find her right then.
"Give me that back!" Bella demanded. She made a grab for her phone, but Jacob held it over his shoulder, out of her reach.
"Forget it. Answer my question. Is this from him?"
"Yes, okay?" she snapped. "And I wouldn't want to be you when he finds out you took it from me. So do yourself a favor and give it back!"
She made another fruitless grab for the device. And then she watched with wide-eyed, open-mouthed shock as Jacob drew back and hurled her phone deep into the woods, as hard as he could. She heard the distant rustling as it landed in the brush.
"What the hell are you doing?" she gasped, stepping around him and backing away, in the direction of Forks.
Jacob rolled his eyes, following her. "I'm trying to talk to you if you'd just pay attention for five minutes. And he's in the way, as usual."
She wrapped her arms protectively around her stomach, hugging herself. She was trembling, and not just from cold. Albert had taken her phone away from her too, when he first took her, and the similarity was just too powerful.
"Life is too short," Jacob implored, searching her face. His eyes were sincere, but he was still stalking toward her as she backed away, and her discomfort was quickly turning into outright fear. "If I realized anything yesterday, it's that. I can't hold this in anymore, Bella. You must know the truth. You have to know how I feel. You have to know he's not your only option."
She kept backpedaling. Away from him. In the direction of home and Edward.
"Jacob, don't do this," she pled. "I don't want to hear it. I don't want to have to hurt you. Just take me home, okay?"
"Will you just listen to me for a minute?" he pled, frustrated. "I'm trying to tell you I love you!"
The flight side of her fight-or-flight response kicked in, and she turned her back to walk away faster. But Jacob grabbed her arm, swung her back around until her chest crashed into his. When she bounced backward, he grabbed hold of both her upper arms, keeping her right there against him.
She wrenched backward away from him, pulling against his hold, but it was like steel. He wasn't letting go.
"I love you, Bella. I'm completely in love with you. I can give you all the things he can't. Normalcy. Children. A flesh and blood life. The way it's supposed to be."
Again, she yanked her arms, whimpering when she still couldn't break free. The panic was starting to climb. "Let me go, Jacob. Now."
"Not until you hear what I'm saying," he protested. "Not until you listen. We make sense, Bella. He's not even human."
Her rising terror overrode her desire not to hurt him by rebuffing him too harshly — and unfiltered truth fell from her lips.
"I love him, Jacob. Edward. I choose him. That's not going to change. There's nothing you can give me that he can't. Nothing."
Jacob's eyes narrowed with desperation. "I can think of one thing," he muttered harshly.
That was all the warning she got before he was on her, one arm sealed around her waist while a huge hand cupped her jaw, fingers curling around to the back of her head as he pulled her mouth to his.
She yelped with surprise as Jacob's warm lips crashed into hers, demanding and intrusive. Her arms were trapped against her sides, and as she struggled to free them so she could push him away, Jacob only tightened his hold on her waist and pulled her harder against him.
While she was distracted with that struggle, his tongue suddenly pushed against her lips, demanding and seizing entrance.
She was no match for his size and strength. She verbalized her protest as best she could, but he swallowed her cries in his aggressive, demanding kiss.
She managed to yank her arms free, getting her hands up against his chest and shoving as hard as she could.
"Stop it!" she was able to yell when she achieved a few inches of space.
But Jacob wasn't done.
"I know you feel something for me, Bella," he persisted. "You just have to let yourself feel it."
His mouth came down on hers again, prying her lips open, and she pushed him away with a strength she didn't know she had. Her hand flew back of its own accord, balling up into a fist.
And then that fist connected with Jacob's jaw.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Author's Note:
Please don't forget to head over to TwiFanfictionRecs dot com and vote once a day through July 30! Both Verbatim and Look, Don't Touch are included in the poll, along with lots of other great stories, many of them from the Bodice Ripper's Contest. I'd love to have your vote!