Author's Note:

Here we go! Thank you to Fran S. Flower for fixing this chapter up nice and shiny, including helping me out with a part I decided to add last minute. And thank you to BrierLynn03 and Wh1teOw1 for pre-reading and supporting.

Thank you so much to all of you who stuck with me after that long break between chapters last time. Your reviews keep me going. :)

Chapter 26

"Goddamnit!"

In frustration, Edward slammed his fist into the nearest tree, somewhat mollified by the feel of the hard wood easily giving way to his force.

The more time that passed, the harder the snow fell and obscured Albert's scent trails. And the more his desperation grew.

He was out of time. It was 3:00. The funeral would soon be over if it wasn't already, and Bella would be in transition between the funeral and the dinner. He wanted to be close to the boundary line when that was going on.

Just in case.

He and Emmett had run a grid and quickly found what they believed to be Albert's true scent trail, leading away from the hunting shack on a course that would split right down the middle between La Push and Forks. He could be on his way to either destination.

Edward had pursued that trail with a single-minded focus.

But now, it had just vanished without a trace.

"It must have been another fake," Emmett pointed out uselessly, his own tone frustrated. "We followed the wrong one."

Edward scrubbed his hands over his face. "This isn't working, and we're out of time." He pulled his phone from his pocket, checked Bella's location.

Still no signal. Her phone was still off. His frustration mounted even higher.

He startled so hard that he nearly dropped the phone when it rang just as he was tucking it back into his pocket.

He didn't even look at it. "Bella?" he hopefully pled — almost begged — as he answered.

"Sorry." Alice.

"What's going on?" he demanded, not bothering with pleasantries.

"Edward," Alice's voice was pitched high, reedy. "I finally got hold of Sam Uley."

She was upset. Very upset. Edward's worry multiplied.

"What is it?"

"The funeral never happened. There was no funeral."

His feet were already moving back toward Forks, back in the direction he and Emmett had left his car. His brother followed without a word.

"Slow down and make sense to me, Alice. I can't hear you right now."

They both knew what he meant by that.

"Sue Clearwater collapsed. She's in the hospital. The funeral was canceled."

Panic started to take hold. No Sue Clearwater meant no dinner either. So why the hell hadn't Bella called him to get her an hour ago? And why hadn't she turned her phone back on an hour ago?

God….what if Albert was somehow responsible for Sue Clearwater's collapse? He could have slipped into the funeral home as anybody, as somebody Sue trusted, handed her a cup of water laced with something….

What if this was all just a diversion, and Albert had taken Bella an hour ago? This was exactly the kind of thing he'd feared: Bella unaccounted for, and him not even being aware of it.

"And Bella?" he questioned.

"When Sam left the funeral home with the ambulance, Jacob and Bella were still there. He had three guys following them, just like you asked, but he's still at the hospital. He hasn't heard anything from any of them yet. And Jacob's not answering his phone either."

Edward's knees nearly buckled. God…this was his fault. It was only his own selfishness in not wanting to lose his mate's affections that had made him give in and agree to all this. But alive and not speaking to him was infinitely preferable to the alternative. Had he signed her death warrant himself, all for the sake of not losing her for himself?

He'd never forgive himself.

"Are Esme and the Denalis at the meadow?" he asked sharply.

"Yes. They just got there. No sign of anybody."

"And the vision still shows…."

"Yes," Alice cut him off. She didn't want to hear it any more than he wanted to say it.

"Jasper?"

"With the army. They're on the move. It's exactly what you said, Edward. Their orders are to attack all of us, with an emphasis on you. Draw you away from Bella. I told Sam about them like you wanted. I asked for their help, but he couldn't give me an answer right then. The council has to meet."

While he wanted to throttle Sam Uley for not instantly pledging assistance, the part about the army was actually somewhat comforting news. If their most current orders were to separate Edward and Bella, that meant Albert didn't have Bella yet. It meant he had been so busy setting up all his decoys and false trails out in the woods that he didn't even realize Bella wasn't with Edward at the moment. He might not even be aware she was in La Push with the wolves.

"Can you see Bella?"

Alice sounded frustrated. "Not at all. That must mean she's still in La Push. They didn't come back to her house, either. Rose and I ran straight here to check while I was still talking to Sam. Charlie is here alone. Do you want us to stay here with him?"

Edward clenched his teeth, knowing full well what Bella's answer to that question would have been. Giving a different one felt almost like betrayal. But his gut told him Albert had very little interest in Charlie Swan. Edward had tracked this man at one time. He knew how he thought. Aside from imitating them to lure in his prey, the male of the species held no interest for Albert Rowe whatsoever. They might just as well not exist to him. Other than his thirst for vengeance on Edward Cullen, all he saw were women. Potential victims.

He wouldn't go after Charlie now, not when the man was alone and out of the way. It wouldn't even occur to him.

"No. If the future still says he'll take Bella to the meadow, then you and Rose meet up with the Denalis there and spread out. Try to cover every possible route in. But nobody engages him alone. Do you hear me, Alice? I want you all within earshot of one another."

"Yes. Oh, you're going to the line?" It didn't even phase him anymore when Alice knew his decisions the moment he made them. "I assumed you would want to go to the meadow yourself."

"The meadow is covered. Bella can't get home without crossing the boundary line first, and I want to be there when she does." That, and he also wanted to be right there close when he inevitably decided fuck it and went looking for her himself. "From where Emmet and I are right now, there's an old logging road that will put us out a few hundred yards shy of the border. We'll wait for her there."

At which point, Bella was going to explain why she hadn't called him when all the plans changed. He was trying very hard not to be furious about that, but his mate had put herself in danger once again. Nothing could trigger an aggressive response in him more quickly.

He had no way of knowing she'd crossed the border a long time ago, and he was going to be coming out at a spot she had already passed.

As soon as he and Emmett reached the Volvo, he spun the car in a smooth circle and started bouncing back down the bumpy dirt road at speeds that would have had Bella clutching the door handle and yelling at him to slow down.

What wouldn't he give to have her beside him that very moment, doing exactly that?

He smashed the pedal down a little harder.

With feet drawn up on the seat and her arms wrapped around her knees, Bella made herself as small as possible in the passenger seat of Jacob's car as he drove her home.

She still shivered and shook, long after the heat had warmed her flesh. Jacob had it running at full blast.

It didn't help. The cold she felt was inside. Bone deep, where there was no way to be warmed. The throbbing in her hand, which she was distantly aware was probably broken, was little more than background noise. She barely noticed it; all of her mental resources devoted to coping with what had just happened to her — with the painful memories it had dragged to the surface.

She couldn't even think straight. It all felt like it was happening to somebody else, like she was watching herself from outside the car, safe and disconnected from what happened around her.

"Bella, would you please just talk to me?"

She had nothing to say. Not one word. She was just numb — in shock.

How could Jacob have done that to her? He was her best friend. She trusted him. How could he have acted like…like him?

She shuddered and laid her cheek on her knee, facing away from him, and stared out the window.

The snow still fell, harder now. She stopped trying to see through it, just focused directly on it. It made her dizzy as it swirled and jumped outside her window.

Just more background noise.

Everything temporarily snapped back into focus when Jacob's hand reached out and touched her shoulder, trying to get her attention. He'd been speaking again, she slowly became aware. She hadn't even heard him.

She flinched away, inhaling sharply, and the hand disappeared.

Jacob sighed loudly. "Look, I said I'm sorry, okay?"

When she still didn't answer, only curling more tightly into her little protective ball, she heard his impatient huff. "Jesus, Bella, would you stop that? You're freaking me out. It's not like I'm going to hurt you or something."

The words themselves hurt, but they didn't matter. The hand had disappeared, and that was all she cared about.

That, and getting to Edward. She hugged her knees more tightly, just barely hanging on until she could get home and call him.

The tears started to brim in her eyes as soon as she saw her house come into view in front of her, getting closer by the second.

Home. Safety.

Charlie. Edward.

Her hand was on the door handle before Jacob got the car completely stopped in her driveway.

"Bella, damn it, talk to me," Jacob pled, sounding worried now. "What are you planning to tell him?"

She didn't know which him he meant, and she didn't care. She just continued to ignore him as she threw the door open and all but fell out of the vehicle, wrapping her arms around herself as she felt the biting wind cut into her the moment the door opened. She stumbled on the slippery walk but righted herself, determined to get inside as quickly as she could.

Jacob's car door slammed. He was right behind her. She picked up her pace.

The blinding tears were filling her eyes, the lump in her throat choking her as she made it to the porch. She didn't notice the front door opening until a surprised voice spoke.

"Bells?"

She startled at the voice, but when she looked up into Charlie's worried eyes, the dam broke. She surged forward toward him.

"Dad."

Charlie caught her, clearly alarmed by the tears he'd seen spilling over just before she slammed into him and threw her arms around his waist.

"Bella, what's wrong?"

She held on for dear life but felt her father's head lift away from hers, knew he was looking over at Jacob. "Jake, you want to tell me what the hell's going on here?"

"We had a little misunderstanding. That's all." Jacob's diplomatic voice. She'd heard that one before. His you-can-trust-me voice. It used to work on her.

But for the moment, at least, Charlie wasn't buying it. His tone was skeptical, a little annoyed. "Must have been one hell of a misunderstanding." His voice got closer. His head was bent toward hers again. "You okay, kiddo?"

"Yeah," she lied, trying to pull herself together. She pulled away, swiped at the tears on her face with her unbroken hand.

Charlie had never even batted an eye at the splinted pinky finger on one hand, nor did he seem fazed by the fresh bruising on the other. It wasn't like random injuries were exactly out of the ordinary for her. But tears were, and that was what had his focus.

"I'm fine," she assured Charlie when his hands lingered on her shoulders. She wasn't. She was still shaking. "I'm going inside. I need to call Edward."

She looked back over her shoulder, quickly glancing at Jacob, and then dropping her eyes. "You should probably leave before he gets here."

"Bella…"

She didn't wait to hear what he had to say. She skirted around Charlie and ran through the door, heading straight for the phone.

Her heart was beating in her throat when her fingers finally closed around the phone in the kitchen.

Edward was waiting for her on the other end of that line. All she had to do was dial his number. And he would be there.

But then she hesitated. She could hear Edward's voice just as clearly as if he was standing next to her — his words to Jacob that very morning.

If you allow anything to happen to her ... if you don't return her to me exactly as she is now — and I mean if she comes back to me with so much as a paper cut — there is no treaty and no pack that will stop me from tearing you limb-from-limb and beating you to death with the pieces.

Slowly, very slowly, she put the phone back down.

She couldn't call Edward. She couldn't go to him about this. She couldn't even let him find out about it.

He had been perfectly clear about what he would do to Jacob if anything happened to her.

Anything.

Especially something like this.

Jacob might have hurt her, bruised her arms, and broken her hand. He might have scared her to death. But she didn't want him dead. She didn't want Edward to kill him.

And he would.

Then, inevitably, the rest of the wolves would go after him. The treaty would be broken, and then they would go after Edward's entire family.

A sick feeling washed over her as the reality of her situation sank in.

She had to keep this from Edward somehow. He couldn't know. She couldn't put him in danger and risk losing him too. Not now. Not when things between them were still so….uncertain after last night.

For the first time, she took a better look at her injured hand. And a whimper escaped.

It looked absolutely grotesque. Her knuckles were swelling. They were black and blue.

No way on earth could she hide this from him. He'd see it instantly. He'd probably smell it, the blood pooling in her bruises. Or even if he didn't, he'd inevitably reach for her hand, and she'd cry out in pain the moment he wrapped his fingers around it.

And she knew exactly how he'd react to that. He blamed himself for enough already.

What she needed was to get some help for her hand before she saw him.

An idea began to form in her mind. The hospital. Carlisle was still in Seattle. He wouldn't be there to see what happened to her and call Edward. She could say she just slipped in the snow and fell. Nobody's fault but her own clumsiness. Given the thickness of her hospital record, surely no one would question that.

Hope started to rise within her.

If she could just get to the hospital, maybe she could get her injury taken care of before Edward found out about it. And just maybe that would be enough to calm him, if he thought Jacob had ensured she received medical attention — especially if she swore Jacob to secrecy about how it happened.

She could hear voices in the living room, Jacob and Charlie still talking. Despite her warning for Jacob to leave, she was glad now that he hadn't heeded it. She could ask the two of them to take her to the hospital together. That way, Jacob would be there to protect them from Albert, and Charlie would be there as a buffer for her.

But just outside the door to the living room, her steps froze with disbelief when she overheard what was being said.

"You sure you don't want to press charges?"

Charlie. And he was joking. Laughing.

Jacob chuckled too. When she peeked around the corner, he was rubbing his jaw like it was sore.

"Maybe I should. Who taught her how to throw a punch like that, Charlie? Damn."

Charlie chuckled and clapped him on the shoulder proudly, and Bella felt sick.

Flattery. Subtly making Charlie feel like a good dad, her father's easily identifiable deepest insecurity, all to establish camaraderie between them and get Charlie on his side.

Manipulation. It was Jacob's stock-in-trade and always had been. She could see that now. Edward had always seen it, and she hadn't believed him.

"Well, it sounds like you did all you could, kid," Charlie said, sounding apologetic as Bella reeled. "Try not to worry too much about it. I'll talk to her when she cools down. It's not like Bella to overreact like that."

At Charlie's apparent betrayal, whatever thin thread had been holding her together snapped. Rationality fled. The now-familiar panic started to build in her chest, and she had to squeeze her eyes shut.

Nobody could be trusted.

Not even Charlie.

Panic took over.

She had to get out of there. Right then.

Her feet started backing away toward the kitchen as the low rumble of Jacob's and Charlie's voices turned to background noise. She was starting to shake again.

Her eyes lit on her keys, right there on the kitchen table where she had last left them.

Seconds later, they were clutched in her hand as she quietly slipped out the back door, running through the swirling snow toward her truck.

Bella stared straight ahead through the snow in front of her, clutching the steering wheel of her truck with one shaking hand as she drove.

That hand bore the splint Edward had put on her broken finger the day before. It was still in better shape than her other hand, the one that rested gingerly in her lap.

The one she had used to punch her best friend when he tried to force himself on her.

She couldn't straighten it all the way out, nor could she bear to close it. It throbbed a steady beat — one that was way too fast, matching her accelerated heart rate.

She was reeling. Falling completely apart.

Charlie's betrayal was every bit as jarring as Jacob's, if not more so.

An overreaction, her dad had called her response to Jacob's forceful kiss. And maybe he was right.

It was just a kiss, after all, her self-doubt began to berate her now, adding to the storm of uncontrollable emotion and guilt. Just one simple kiss. She shouldn't be reacting like this. It was beyond absurd.

But absurd or not, she couldn't catch her breath. She was hyperventilating, crying so hard she could barely see the road in front of her, and all she wanted to do was run. Drive. Just get as far away from everybody as she could.

A sob broke free. How could Jacob have done something like this to her? How could he?

A shudder wracked her body. At the moment he'd grabbed her, forced his lips on hers, it had felt like it was happening all over again.

Albert.

For one terrifying moment out there on the side of the road, she had feared Jacob was him.

Somehow, the fact that he was himself when he did something like that to her was almost worse.

But she hadn't known that at the time. She had only known pure panic and terror. When she struck him, some part of her had expected the same result as the last time she'd angered Albert.

She had expected to be thrown onto the ground, stripped, taunted…violated. When Jacob reached for her immediately after she hit him, wanting to check on her hand, she'd shrunk away in terror. A plea for him not to hurt her fell from her lips — which had seemed to bring him to his senses. He'd backed way off, coaxed her shivering and shaking body back into his car by promising not to touch her, and he'd driven her home to Charlie with all possible speed.

She was in shock, then and now. She distantly realized that.

Some part of her knew she should go straight to Edward.

The rest of her knew she didn't dare. It could be the end of him if he attacked a wolf. It could be the end of everyone and everything he loved.

Her drive to protect him was just as all-consuming as his for her.

Nonetheless, her whole body shook. Maybe it was the cold. Maybe it was fear. The snow swirled so hard in front of her she could barely see, and Albert's face — Edward's — was all she could see in it. She wanted to pull off to the side of the road, curl up in a ball and just cry.

But she was so cold. It was so cold.

So she just kept driving toward the hospital, her mind going mercifully numb while her body bore the brunt of the anxiety and fear tormenting her.

When Edward screeched his Volvo to a stop just short of the line and got out to stand even closer, straining his ears for any sound of Jacob's car in the distance in either direction, he knew he wasn't going to make it much longer.

Thirty minutes. The seconds were already ticking down in his head, despite Alice's somber warning to him earlier. Thirty more minutes, and then he was going in after her, damn the consequences. Emmett stood beside him, a restraining hand on his shoulder.

They both knew Emmett couldn't stop him if he made up his mind to go.

They both knew Emmett would be right behind him, spoiling for a fight with any wolf they came across.

That latter knowledge held him in place far more securely than Emmett's hand.

What he didn't know, couldn't have known, was that Bella had come back across that line long before he ever got there.

Twenty-five more minutes. He'd give her that much longer to either call or show up at the line.

It stayed maddeningly, hauntingly, deathly quiet.

His phone was in his hand, eyes glued to the little dot that represented Bella's last location at the funeral home, glaring at the damnably frustrating label of "no signal" still flashing above it.

And then, almost like he had succeeded in willing them to do so, those wretched words disappeared.

"Locating."

He sucked in a sharp breath. Bella's phone had just come back on.

Almost immediately, his own phone rang. Finally. It felt like his bones all but melted with relief.

Edward answered it before the first ring was done, not bothering to look at the number calling.

"Bella, where are you?"

He didn't mean it to come out sounding quite so...intense. Or panicked. Take your pick.

"It's me, son."

Carlisle. Calling from the hospital, he saw when he glanced at his screen.

The very last person he had been expecting, and he tensed up immediately.

"What's wrong?" Because it went without saying that something was. Bella should have called him to pick her up a long time ago.

"First of all, Bella's going to be fine. She's here with me, at the hospital, and she's safe, Edward."

He didn't stop to check the location of Bella's phone, since he knew where she was. It never occurred to him that she might not have been the one to turn it on...

No. His feet were moving back to his car by the time the word hospital was fully out of his father's mouth. "I'm on my way. Emmett! Go back and meet up with Rose and Alice. I'm going to need you all later. Carlisle, what the hell happened?"

Carlisle's hesitation was nearly Edward's undoing, ripping an audible growl from his throat.

"Calm down. I'm not entirely certain yet, although if I had to venture a guess, I would say she punched someone. I'm waiting for the X-rays now, but her right hand is likely broken."

Edward pushed the limits of his Volvo's capabilities as he cranked up and spun around, headed for the hospital at top speed. He was fully aware that if he ran into Jacob there, he was in danger of starting a damn war — publicly, at that — and he simply didn't care.

He was going to kill him. Period. Regardless of the circumstances. He had entrusted Bella to Jacob's care, despite his better judgment, and now she was hurt.

Inexcusable.

Unforgivable.

Deserving of death.

Frustration made him more brusque than usual. "How do you not know what happened? Is she unconscious?"

Carlisle sighed. "No, just not particularly forthcoming. Edward, something's very wrong. She brought herself here alone and specifically requested a different doctor. Fortunately, there was no one else available. But I can only assume she didn't want either of us to know she's here."

That probably should have at least slowed him down. It didn't. He nearly smashed the accelerator right through the floorboard as he increased speed.

He had gotten exactly one thing from that: Bella had been alone.

If he hadn't already wanted to murder Jacob Black, that would have certainly done it.

"I'll be there in five minutes. Do not let her leave that hospital, Carlisle. I don't know what the hell she's thinking or where the fuck Jacob is, but she can't be by herself."

Carlisle subtly expressed his disapproval with Edward's harsh language. "Agreed, completely, though I would suggest you get yourself under control before you approach Bella. She's not in a good way, son. Shall I tell her you're coming?"

"No." That was unequivocal. He intended to get the truth, and the element of surprise would only aid him in that endeavor.

Carlisle didn't need to know any of that because he likely wouldn't approve of that either. So Edward ended the call and tossed his near-useless phone into the seat beside him with a little too much force.

Near useless because apparently, Bella had no intention of ever calling him on it in the first place.

Not even when she clearly needed him.

It was all he could do to restrain his steps to human speed when he strode purposefully through the emergency department, relieved that Carlisle had already notified the front desk to let his son immediately through.

At the moment, he wasn't above ripping security doors off their hinges if anyone attempted to delay him.

Carlisle stopped him in the hallway to test his identity. And despite it being his rule every single time he'd been alone, with no exceptions, it was a thing he had little patience for at the moment.

He forgot all about approaching Bella slowly and carefully when he finally reached the correct emergency room cubicle. This was where she sat fully dressed on the edge of a gurney, cradling her freshly braced hand in her lap, supported by her other hand.

The sight of her injured, looking completely miserable with a tear-streaked face, instantly deflated the head of steam he had built up.

Her eyes widened slightly when he swept in and yanked the curtain closed behind him, and she searched his face with surprise...and a little bit of fear. "Edward?"

Normally, that would have stopped him in his tracks until he could prove his identity. This time, he didn't even slow down. He crossed the room in two strides and knelt on the floor in front of her, on one knee, putting himself eye level with her injured hand.

"It's me," he said quietly, already reaching for her hand. "Carlisle wouldn't have let me in if it wasn't. Let me see."

She relaxed slightly and offered no resistance as he slid a gentle hand beneath her wrist. He lifted her hand up and carefully grasped it with both of his, tenderly brushing cool fingertips over her bruised knuckles as he turned her hand back and forth to get a better look. He met her eyes, tried and failed to smile.

"You put some force behind that. Good girl. Now, are you going to tell me why you hit him, or do I need to track him down and beat it out of him myself? Because I will, just as soon as I get you somewhere safe."

She looked so terrified at that promise — and it was definitely a promise — that he nearly backed down.

Until all the color drained out of her face, and she lied to him.

"What? I — Edward, I told Carlisle I — I fell."

"No." He didn't mean that to come out as harshly as it did, didn't like the way it made her flinch, so he made an effort to modulate his tone. "Don't lie, Bella. Not to me. Carlisle just got your X-rays, and he's standing right down the hall looking at them, which means I've seen them too."

He tapped his temple to indicate what he meant and instantly lost her gaze when she suddenly became fascinated by the brace on her hand.

"This," he emphasized then, slightly lifting her hand, "is called a boxer's fracture. You hit something — or someone — with a closed fist. And Jacob Black is conveniently missing, so I can do the math." His tone became even more clipped. "What, exactly, did he do?"

His justified hurt and anger aside — because not only had she broken her promise to not go off alone and then lied to him, but she also didn't call him when she was in the goddamn hospital — he still felt like an asshole when she spontaneously burst into tears, trying to cover her face with her only-slightly-less-injured hand and crying like her heart would break.

"Damn it," he swore under his breath, too low for her to hear. "I'm going to fucking kill him." Then louder, achingly gentle... "Come here, Bella. I'm sorry."

Before he could think about it too much, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her toward him. That was all it took. She melted forward off the edge of the hospital gurney, right into his chest, throwing her arms around him and burying her face in his neck as she continued crying.

He stood as he caught her, surprised, and that was it for him too. Every bit of his fear and anger went right out the window. His arms crushed her to him, and he had to focus on not squeezing the life out of her. His senses were on overload, having her back in his arms and cradled against him after not being able to fucking find her when it started snowing.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart," he murmured into her hair. "Please don't cry, not because of me. I was just scared, Bella. I didn't know where you were, and then Carlisle said you were hurt, and..." He trailed off, sucking in a deep breath and trying to stop the stream of panicked speech spilling from his lips. His voice was shaking.

But he must have said something right because Bella only squeezed him tighter, her sobs slowing. His senses near exploded when she pressed an impulsive kiss against the side of his neck. "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to lie to you. I just...I just..."

He was still holding her so tightly against his chest that he wasn't even sure she could get enough air, so he adjusted his hold to sit on the edge of the gurney with her in his lap. She let him pull her back enough that he could see her face, but she kept her arms locked around his neck. And that was just fine with him.

He brought one gentle hand to her face, cupping her cheek and softly brushing tears away with his thumb. "Why didn't you call me, Bella?" he asked softly, not trying to hide the hurt. "Regardless of any argument we may have had about this trip, you had to know I would have come for you if anything went wrong. There is absolutely nothing that can happen between us that would make me not be here for you if you need me."

She fidgeted on his knee, looking embarrassed. "I know that. I do. But I was afraid to tell you."

That was a direct hit, right in his gut, one that truly hurt. "I have more to apologize for than I realized if you're afraid of talking to me now," he said softly, but Bella gripped him more tightly.

"No! That's not what I meant. I wasn't afraid of you. I just...I didn't want to hear you say, 'I told you so,' about Jacob." Her arms around his neck constricted even more. "And...and I didn't want you to kill him."

A different kind of uneasiness replaced the hurt. "Why?" he demanded, more sharply than he would have liked. It wasn't Bella he was angry with. "What happened?"

Bella's gaze dropped, and he couldn't catch it, despite his best effort. "He...he kissed me," she admitted quietly.

The rock of uneasiness in his gut quadrupled in size, approaching boulder proportions and tied off with a neat bow of anger. He put a lid on the anger, kept his tone even, swallowed the venom pooling in his throat. "I see." He wasn't sure what to say next. "And did you kiss him back?"

This was it. The moment he had dreaded since he realized how close the relationship between Bella and Jacob truly was — the moment that she came to the realization of everything a human relationship had to offer her that he couldn't, and not least in the physical sense. Jacob could hold her tightly, kiss her deeply without risk of either razor-sharp teeth, venom, or bloodlust. Jacob likely had none of his inhibitions about pre-marital relations that Bella found so frustrating, either.

That was a sobering thought, one that sent the runaway train of his imagination barreling down the tracks at breakneck speed. Had something already happened between them? Rather than hitting Jacob, had Bella inadvertently slammed her hand into something in the heat of passion? It would explain why she had lied to Carlisle about what happened...

But Bella looked...annoyed; whether at him or Jacob, he wasn't entirely sure yet.

"Of course not! I punched him in the face!" She let go of his neck and gestured with her braced hand as if to remind him, then winced at the too-fast motion. The twinge of pain seemed to only make her angrier. "Stupid, arrogant werewolf," she muttered under her breath then, gently poking her hurt hand with her 'good' one. "Stupid, arrogant werewolf and his...his stupid hard face."

In his relief, Edward couldn't help it. His mouth twisted the tiniest bit in amusement at her violent outburst, so unlike her that it couldn't not be amusing. He brought her freshly injured hand up to gently kiss the back of her knuckles, letting his cold lips linger soothingly. So his original strategy had worked, then, despite a few hiccups: he'd given Jacob enough rope, and the mutt had hung himself, just as predicted. Good riddance.

He thought he had done an admirable job of covering the smile with the kiss. But Bella only turned both her scowl and her ire on him, instead.

"See? And now you're laughing at me too. This is another reason I didn't call you! That's worse than I told you so."

She reminded him more than ever of a temperamental angry kitten, and in his still giddy relief at having her back safely, he thought it was utterly adorable. He had enough sense not to voice that thought, however. His status could be reduced to 'stupid, arrogant vampire' just as quickly as Jacob's had fallen.

"I assure you, I find nothing about this funny." Okay, maybe he did a little, but only because he was absolutely drowning in heady relief and also kind of wished he could have seen the look on Jacob's face when Bella put him in his place. God, he still couldn't wait to change her, despite his misgivings the night before. She was going to be a breathtaking, fierce vampire, one who would keep him on his toes during her newborn phase — and likely long afterward. "In fact, I'd be quite happy to break his stupid hard face for you if you'd like. Say the word."

He expected her to start backpedaling and defending Jacob, as per the usual. Instead, she only looked more miserable, and the bitterness in her voice set off warning bells in his head.

"No, you may as well laugh too. Why not? Everybody else did."

There was very little chance of him laughing now, especially when fresh tears sprang up in her eyes on that last sentence, tears which she angrily swiped at with her good hand. In fact, that hard knot of uneasiness in his stomach was tightening back up rapidly.

There was something off about her demeanor. A vulnerability to her he hadn't seen since the first days after Albert's attack. He was starting to suspect that this 'kiss' may have been something else entirely other than the mutual, shared moment of closeness he had imagined, something more than just curiosity on Bella's part.

"Define 'everybody,'" he said seriously, with no trace of a smile, and she both heard and saw the change. His rising anger seemed to soothe her, making her snuggle closer to him. That only worried him more.

"Jacob, for one. He told my dad about me punching him, and they were laughing like it was the funniest thing ever. I guess my dad didn't care that he kept kissing me after I pushed him off me the first time. He all but apologized to Jacob. He said I was overreacting."

His grip on her tightened without his realizing it. "He what?" he repeated, his voice deadly.

If he had just heard that correctly...if Jacob had fucking forced himself on her...then there would be a goddamn war before the night was over. But Bella misunderstood his question and thought he was talking about Charlie.

"I couldn't believe it. He started joking with Jacob about pressing charges against me. My dad. Shouldn't he have — I don't know — threatened to shoot him or something?"

Somebody sure as hell should have. Edward only barely managed to keep from growling that sentiment aloud.

So Bella had misspoken with her first confession. The mutt hadn't kissed her. What he had done was assault her. He hadn't just put his filthy paws on her; he'd done it without her consent.

And then there was Charlie, whose behavior did surprise him, honestly. Granted, Charlie was hurt and angry at the moment — with Bella as much as with Edward. And he didn't know anything about what had happened to Bella beforehand. But it hardly mattered. If what Bella had heard was true, then Charlie had let his preference for Jacob over Edward cause him to fail his daughter in the most traitorous way possible, and it was clear that betrayal had hurt Bella. Deeply. Which wasn't a thing Edward forgave easily.

Wanting to rip Charlie Swan's head off was something new that he hadn't experienced before.

But it utterly paled in comparison to his urge to murder Jacob, who had sure as fuck known exactly what Bella had been through, yet had still seen no problem in trying to force himself on her.

This was not what he needed on day one of turning over a new leaf where Bella and Jacob were concerned. Which also, for the record, was the final day.

He hadn't fully forgotten the lessons he'd learned.

Moving forward, Bella he would trust implicitly. Her decisions were her own. She could do as she liked, and he'd simply protect her to the best of his ability when she did.

But Jacob? To borrow a phrase from Emmett, Jacob could fuck all the way off.

"I think maybe you should tell me the whole story now," Edward said as calmly as he could manage. He clenched his fists behind her back to keep her from seeing how hard his hands trembled, shaking with the urge to wrap themselves around Jacob's throat and start twisting. "From the beginning."

She did.

She poured out every word of what had happened to her. The stunt Jacob had pulled, the things he had said to her — not having any idea exactly how much angrier Edward grew with every word. He barely managed to keep himself in check, to hold his tongue until she was finished.

"Where is the dog now?" he asked then — very, very quietly.

Bella missed his murderous state. She shrugged, still sounding bitterly angry — as she had every right to. "Probably still at my dad's, high-fiving each other. I don't know. I couldn't listen to it anymore. I sneaked out and drove myself here. It's not like either one of them noticed."

He pulled his phone out of his pocket without another word and dialed the Swan house. Charlie answered on the third ring.

"Charlie. Is Jacob still there?" Edward asked, his tone barely civil.

Bella's eyes widened. If she hadn't realized just how deadly serious he was a moment before, she did now.

Not even Chief Swan. Just Charlie. That was a first.

"Edward. What a surprise." Charlie's dryly sarcastic tone said it really wasn't.

"Is he there." Not even a question this time. More of a demand.

Charlie sighed. "He tore out of here like his ass was on fire when he realized Bella left. Let me guess — she's with you?"

Edward grit his teeth. Charlie and Jacob were both damn lucky that was the case. If their idiocy had led to Bella being abducted again — or worse — he'd have been hard-pressed not to kill them both.

"Yes, she is, and that's not going to change. Don't expect her home tonight. If you refuse to defend her honor, I'll do it for you."

Click.

"Come on," he said to a stunned Bella, scooping her up in his arms as he stood to his feet. "Let's get out of here. You're staying with me tonight. I'll get you somewhere safe while I take care of this, and then you're not leaving my sight again."

He could feel her eyes on his face as he walked purposefully back through the emergency department, carrying his mate like he'd forgotten she could walk on her own.

She didn't protest, and he was grateful. The truth was that he'd been truly terrified something had happened to her, and he just wasn't ready to let her go yet — not when he was going to have to leave her shortly to break every bone in Jacob Black's body, which was a thing he wasn't leaving until morning.

It would happen tonight.

Albert first. Jacob not far behind.

His monster was going to have its fill of vengeance tonight.

And when that was done, he was fixing things with Bella. All of it.

Whatever his mate wanted….she would get.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Author's Note:

Still working on the next chapter, so I won't make promises on the posting date. But I can promise I will have it to you just as soon as it's ready. I will try to post updates on my profile page to give you some idea how it's coming.

Still 10 days left to vote daily at TwiFanFictionRecs dot com for Top 10 completed stories last month. Both of my Bodice Ripper's Contest Edward/Bella stories, (Verbatim and Look, Don't Touch) are on there, along with many great stories. I would love to have your daily vote, especially for LDT.

Also, I'm soon going to be posting a collection of one-shots entitled "In Any Universe". Some will be vamp, some AH. The basic premise will be that in any life, any set of circumstances, B&E are still meant for one another. They are all inspired by prompts at the Fic Lab on Facebook, which is a very fun group where Twilight prompts are posted once a week. I have six done already, so I should be able to update it weekly. I hope some of you will follow along with me there! Look for that coming soon.