PREVIOUSLY-

I felt the heat rush through my veins as I also felt my mark burning viciously. I prayed it would be over soon and that somehow Seth would survive my ultimate death.

"I'm… sorry… I love you… Seth." I whispered out between labored breaths as I felt my body shutting down.

Things began to get blurry as I felt consciousness leave me, and all I could think was that I would never exist without my imprint, my Seth.

I didn't know how long things were nothing but dark. It felt like an eternity for me. I would occasionally feel a warm touch against my skin and water against my face, but other than that it was just nothing. I felt almost numb.

"Bella? Bella please, please hear me and wake up. I love you, please wake up." I recognized that voice… Seth. Mate.

I tried to open my eyes but they wouldn't move.

"Sam! Sam, I can feel something!" I heard him say. Sam. Alpha.

"What do you feel, Seth?" That was Sam.

I still couldn't open my eyes. Why wouldn't they open? Why was I like this again?

"I can feel our bond again. She's coming back to me." Seth was crying. Why was he crying? Had something happened? Was that why I couldn't open my eyes?

"Then she'll wake soon. I'll go get Sue." Sue. Mother.

I felt the warmth leave my hand and a rush of pain crashed back into my body. Thank the spirits there wasn't any more burning. Wait, why was there burning to begin with? Had there been a fire?

I tried this time to move my fingers. I wanted the warmth back. I needed it. I couldn't tell if my fingers were working or not, but I felt my warmth come back.

"I'm here, starshine." Seth. My warmth. The pain left me again. "Mom, I can feel her again."

"Good, she should be waking up. She might already be able to hear you again." I heard Sue tell him.

YES! I CAN HEAR YOU!

"She's feeling happiness, that must mean she can." Seth told her. "Everything is going to be okay, Bella. I promise."

I tried to open my eyes again. I could feel my eyelids wiggle, but not open.

"Come on starshine, keep trying. Come back to me." Seth encouraged. I tried again. More wiggling.

"Is she waking up?!" Charlie? Dad. That was Charlie. I felt relief. Why did I feel relief? What had happened?

"Yeah, Charlie. I can feel her again. She moved her fingers and she's trying to open her eyes." Seth told him. I tried again. Still no luck.

"You can do it, Bells. We're all here waiting for you." Charlie said to me as I felt his hand touch my lower leg.

"I know it's hard, Bella. Just focus on lifting your eyelids slowly." I heard Sue say to me kindly.

I put all of my attention and focus into opening my eyelids.

I saw light. It worked! Too much light. It suddenly dimmed. My eyes finally opened all the way, but things were all blurry.

I focused on blinking a few times slowly and things began to become clear. The first thing I saw clearly was Seth, my Seth.

He was crying. Tears were streaming down his face. He was alive. Why would he not be? What had happened to me?

"Thank the spirits, Bella. I almost lost you." He told me as he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead.

I opened my mouth and tried to speak, but my throat was dry.

"Water." Seth told someone. He let go of my hand for a split second and the pain rushed back in. This time I could feel that it centered in my neck.

The moment his hand touched me again, it was gone. He lifted my head up and placed a cup of water to my lips, letting just a little inside. I sipped and felt the immediate relief as it ran down my throat.

"What—" I croaked, my voice still painful to use. He let me sip again. "Happened?" I managed to get out.

"You don't remember?" Seth asked me quickly. I shook my head no.

"Don't you think you should wait to tell her? If she doesn't remember, then I'm not sure she's ready to know yet, son." Charlie told Seth. I shook my head again. I needed to know.

"P-please." I choked out.

Seth inhaled as he held my head close to him. "Edward came for you."

He had?

"He busted through your window and had you in a choke hold. Jacob couldn't phase in your room without hurting you. I came in as a wolf, but if I tried to take him out, I would've hurt you, too. He—" Seth broke off, looking away. What did he do to me?

"Tell… me." I whispered, pleading.

"He—he bit you, Bella."

He bit me? Was I a vampire? I didn't feel like a vampire.

That's when I remembered the burning. The excruciating pain in my neck and the fire rushing through my veins.

I lifted my hand up very slowly and felt my neck where the pain was. There was a bandage.

"Am I?" I asked with tears filling my eyes. Wait. Tears? Vampires couldn't cry.

"No, thank the spirits. You're still human. It's a miracle." Seth told me. I was still human. I hadn't changed, and I hadn't been turned.

"How?" I asked in my crackled voice.

"We think it was because of your mark. We're mated. You have part of me inside you forever, and that part is pure wolf. It's why your scent is mixed with mine. Your body's been fighting the venom for—" he broke off again.

"How long?" I asked.

"8 days." He replied.

Eight whole days I'd been unconscious, fighting the venom of a vampire. How was I not feeling the pain unless Seth let go?

"Seth's been here by your side the whole time, Bella. Couldn't pry the kid away if I tried." Charlie said to me as he placed his hand on Seth's shoulder.

Seth had stayed the whole time?

He held the water up to my mouth again and I sipped it.

"Edward?" I asked him, wanting to know.

"Gone. As soon as he bit you I went a bit crazy. I charged at him and we both went out the window. He tried to escape but he was cornered by the whole pack. My wolf was freaking out more than I ever have. I ripped his head off and the pack took care of the rest."

Gone. He was finally gone. He couldn't hurt me or Seth anymore. I felt a relief that I'd never felt before.

"If it hadn't been for my mark, I would've lost you Bella." Seth told me as he held me into his chest.

"I need to check the wound, Seth." Sue told him and he nodded starting to move away, but as soon as he let go, my whole body ached in pain again.

"Don't—" I could barely say to Seth reaching out for his hand again so that the pain would go away.

He reached back for it and grabbed my fingers making my body sag in relief.

"The pain—" I muttered.

"Do you feel it when I'm touching you, starshine?" He asked quickly. I shook my head no.

"Only when you let go." I told him. "It's—my whole body aches."

"I'm not surprised, Bella. You were having convulsions for the first four days and you had a fever for seven. It only broke last night. Your body will be sore for a while, honey." Sue told me as she walked around the other side to start peeling away the bandage.

"How does it look today, mom?" Seth asked her.

"It's so strange. It's nearly fully healed. Slower than the pack members, but much quicker than a normal human." Sue explained.

"Sam thinks it's from the mark too." Seth responded. "Don't worry, starshine, there's not enough wolf in you to make you suddenly sprout fur."

"Do you want to sit up, Bella?" Sue asked as she replaced the bandage.

I nodded my head, only just realizing where exactly I was. I was in our apartment, laying in our new bed.

"I'll hold her up if you can put the pillows behind her back." Seth told his mom before pulling me forward so that Sue could put the pillows behind me.

Once I was sitting up, I could see a lot more. I looked around the room, surprised to see the entire pack situated all around.

"You're all here?" I asked them.

"We've been here on and off since it happened, but we all came when Seth said he could feel you again." Jacob replied for them. "You made us wait a long time for you to wake up, Bells."

I was happy to hear him joke, even though laughing made my throat hurt. I put my hand up to the front of my neck and tried to massage my throat.

"I'm sure your throat will be sore for a while. You screamed for days, starshine." Seth told me as he gave me more water.

"I did?" I asked.

"You don't even want to know what you screamed, Bella." Jacob told me, this time much more serious.

"I told you not to mention it if she didn't know, Jacob." Seth growled at him.

"Sorry man." Jacob held his hands up in surrender.

I didn't want to get into it now, but I made a mental note to ask Seth about it later.

"I'm sure Bella is glad you all came, but now that she's awake we'll need to get her washed up, so I'm sure she'd like her privacy for that." Sue told them all.

They all nodded and began to file out the doorway as she'd requested.

"I think that's my cue to leave too, Bells. You don't know how relieved I am that you're alright baby girl." Charlie told me with tears in his eyes as he leaned forward to press a kiss to my forehead. "And I'm proud of you too, son." He said, shaking Seth's hand.

"I love you, Dad." I murmured before he turned to leave.

"I love you too, Bella." He responded with a smile before leaving me alone with Seth and Sue.

"Do you need my help, mom?" I heard from the doorway and saw Leah standing there.

"No honey, I think Seth and I can manage. I'll yell if I need you." Sue told her. She nodded and closed the door to the bedroom. Sue turned to Seth and told him, "I'll go turn on the bath if you want to get her out of the gown and bring her in."

It was only then that I noticed I was in a hospital gown, then I remembered that Sue worked at a doctor's office and would likely have access to them.

Seth leaned me forward and carefully untied the string on the back, pulling it off of my naked body as he pulled the blanket back as well. I tensed from the horrible ache as he let go of me to do so, but it was gone again before I knew it.

He lifted me, completely naked, into the bathroom where Sue had drawn a bath. I was a little embarrassed at Sue seeing me naked, but then I realized that she'd probably seen me naked at some point in the last 8 days as she took care of me.

Seth lowered me down into the warm water and I sighed at the feeling. He didn't let go of my hand as he sat beside the tub.

"I'm going to wash your hair, Bella. I'll try to keep the water away from your neck, but let me know if it hurts too much, alright?" Sue asked and I nodded. "Seth, go ahead and start washing the rest of her body."

I blushed at the thought of Seth washing my private bits in front of his mom and I looked up to see him chuckling as he shook his head slightly.

"Only you, starshine." He muttered to me and I knew what he meant.

He grabbed the sponge and carefully made sure one of his hands was touching me the entire time he washed my stiff body before rinsing me off while Sue finished with my hair. She then rinsed it as well and Seth let the water drain, lifting me out easily as Sue wrapped a towel around me and grabbed another for my hair.

"I'll be just upstairs if you need me." Sue told us as she finished drying my hair while Seth laid me in the bed again.

"Thanks, mom." Seth told her.

After she walked upstairs, he let my hand go for just a moment as he grabbed a shirt from his closet and brought it back to me. The pain was becoming more bearable but still ached painfully.

"I figured you'd want this instead of that hospital gown again." He told me with a smile as he pulled his shirt over my head. I could smell it so much more than I was used to and it smelled like him, calming me instantly. Then I realized I could smell a lot of things.

"The scent is… much stronger." I told him curiously.

"Um, yeah. When I said there wasn't enough wolf in you to make you sprout fur… I might have neglected to say that you do have more wolf in you than before. Mom gave you some of my blood because you lost a ton and apparently we're the same blood type and then I -uh- had to mark you again. My wolf pretty much demanded it. We think that may have been what finally gave us the upper hand against the venom and my wolf knew it. But I've marked you three times now, and we can smell the wolf in you." Seth explained to me as he looked me in the eyes.

"So I have super smell now?" I asked him.

"We don't know exactly what, uh, side-effects you'll have. We just know that you shouldn't turn into a wolf." He said before letting my hand go again to open the drawer and grab me a pair of panties. He was back quickly and helped slide them on before climbing in the bed next to me.

"Shouldn't?" I asked him pointedly.

"It was touch and go there for a while. We didn't know what would happen honestly. You had a high fever, higher than a human should have, but it came down last night. It's still 'technically' a fever, its 102, but Mom thinks that may be your normal from now on… and with the scent thing and the healing… But it's all like halfway in between human and wolf. It's never happened before so we'll just have to see what happens." He told me honestly.

"So basically I'm like some type of a hybrid now?" I questioned.

"As far as we know." He said to me as he pulled me closer to him and wrapped his arms around my body. "I almost lost you again. It was so close this time, I couldn't feel you anymore. I was so scared."

"I'm still here, and I'm still human." I whispered back to him. "What did Jake mean about what I was screaming?"

I needed to know.

He took a deep breath before answering. "You were… begging us to kill you, Bella."

My heart dropped. I had what?

"Why would I do that?!" I asked, horrified at myself.

"You kept screaming that you'd rather die than change. That and the amount of pain you were in… Then on day four you went unconscious." He said painfully.

I couldn't believe I'd put him through that. How must he have felt when I was begging for him to kill me?

"I'm sorry." I whispered, knowing it wasn't nearly enough, but I felt like I needed to say something.

"There's nothing to apologize for, starshine. You didn't choose this. A psychotic vampire tried to murder you. I can't blame you for what you said when you thought you were dying. You did manage to tell me you loved me though, so I'll let that one pass." He said.

"I do love you, more than anything." I told him proudly.

"And I love you too, more than the universe."

A/N- Well that was a rollercoaster. I knew I had some of you hanging off your seats all night and I even debated on leaving this chapter unposted until later today, but I just couldn't do it. Thoughts?