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Into the Woods
By: Everleigh Allen
Chapter 42
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Bella gasped and brought her arms up in defense and tried to cover her exposed breasts before she turned toward the growl. Her eyes widened in shock that turned to instant fear when she saw the huge russet wolf with his fangs exposed and snarling at her. His hair was standing straight up lining his spine as he bent low to the ground as if he was ready to pounce.
"Jake?" Bella's voice was shrouded in fear as she stepped backward while the wolf moved forward.
It was Jake in form but he seemed mentally off. He was growling and snapping his jaw, drool seeping out of his mouth and onto the forest floor. His eyes narrowed and Bella could see her slight reflection in his dark pupils.
There was a sudden swift gust of air. "Now Jake, that's no way to greet the one you claim to love." Edward snorted without humor from behind Bella but when she turned toward her mate, she could see the seething, defensive posture he was emitting and his dark eyes focused completely on Jake.
It was then that Bella rationalized that Jake was probably reacting to Edward and not her so aggressively, because why else would he act that way?
It had to be Edward … right?
"You're clearly upset Jake," Bella said in what she hoped was a soothing voice. But he continued with his rabid wolf performance and she chanced a look toward Edward for reassurance. Edward was rigid and watching Jake actively, only moving slightly away when Bella tried to touch him to steal his thoughts, but he shook his head minutely with warning and motioned toward her exposed chest.
Edward lifted his arms, claws out stretched and ready to attack. "Put your shirt on." He bit out, "He thinks he's being protective of what he thinks is his… which, at this moment, is you."
Bella gasped as she covered herself the best she could.
"He's telling himself that you're his intended imprint and that things will align when the time is right, and you will feel it too... It's superficial at best. He's not thinking clearly and it's exasperated by the pack mentality and the fact you're bare for all to see- which he sees as a sign."
Jake didn't like Edward reading or expressing his thoughts into words and so he snarled at him, curling his lips over his sharp wolfie teeth, trying to maneuver around the vampire to get to his mate.
Edward bent forward in a blur and handed Bella her shirt which she draped over her chest before Edward motioned for her to get behind him. She complied, much to Jake's dismay as he continued to growl and his jaw opened and snapped shut in warning.
"I'm coming, Edward," Alice screamed mentally, panicking. "I just saw everything when she grabbed your hand and could finally see- he's blocking me in the wolf form… was that the intention? Is he stalling…? Is she okay? The others are coming!"
Edward eyed Bella and whispered, but he knew she'd hear him "No, she's not okay and I am struggling to hear the other wolves with the way he's yelling in his head."
Alice moved through the trees in a sprint, jumping over fallen logs and even a small spring, until she was finally there, seeing Jake, Edward, and Bella. Bella was half naked in a torn shirt, as Alice could see in her visions. She broke through the tree line but was suddenly walking slowly as possible to not agitate the wolf further.
"Beautiful day isn't it?" Alice gave a longing sigh as if she was bored. Jake turned his head for a second, his growling deepened as she moved closer. She walked through the long grasses and bluebells running her hand over them as she passed, toward the trio. "Except I had hoped to see all the little fairies but it seems SOMEONE has scared them away with his little temper tantrum. All that growling and carrying on..." She tsked and glared at Jake who growled gutturally at her but his ear was bent towards her as if he was tracking her movements.
He then noticed he was outnumbered and growled as intimidatingly as he could.
Alice ignored it, as if it never even happened and took a dark blue halter style shirt out of the bag she was carrying. She then helped cover Bella with it and tied the shirt over her lower back and again behind the neck. Bella's wings flared out, but both Edward and Alice seemed unfazed, ignoring the new growth on her back as if it was always there, much to Bella's relief.
Bella grabbed Edward's hand and looked at him with wide tearful eyes. She could hear the anger in Jake's voice, the snarling, spitting words claiming his power and possession of Bella as his imprint. That Edward should step aside before the other wolves came by to remove and destroy him.
He also claimed that the ultimate destruction of Edward would free any bonds they may or may not share, leaving Jake open to intercept and finally imprint her.
"Just stop it, Jake!" Bella cried, moving her hand away as if it burned her. "I'm not some possession of yours! You aren't seeing things rationally. If you were you would see that I am obviously Edward's mate. Killing him won't change that!"
Jake barked twice in response, forgetting he was in wolf form and flung slobber everywhere.
There was suddenly a chorus of growls within the trees, alerting every one of the other wolves incoming presence.
All the sudden the wind picked up and swirled around the small meadow. The white cotton clouds turned darker as the negative emotions circled within the group.
The shadows elongated and hovered in the distance as the group fell silent.
The birds no longer sang their morning songs.
The warm air turned colder and the weather, more threatening.
"Edward," Bella whimpered, clutching at his shirt as her eyes darted around.
She somehow pulled her wings around her and they shrunk and then fused to the skin on her back making it look like the wings were nothing more than a slightly raised tattoo.
Edward and several of the approaching Cullen's watched in amazement as Jake growled his dismay of their presence.
That just added to Bella's distaste of the wolf boy glaring at them.
"Leave." She seethed but Jake just growled, thinking about how he could get the wings off of her and how he could grab her and leave with her with all the vampires there.
He didn't like his odds.
Edward dropped Bella's hands, regaining his thoughts and those around him so he could be prepared for anything the wolf planned.
Alice was also watching the future closely even though Jake seemed to be a dark spot for her and his presence was irritating.
Edward shifted his head to the side, motioning to the others to come closer.
"We miss the party?" Jasper said as he sauntered up and slightly in front of Alice as Jake snarled. He could feel all of the tension coming off of Jake and Edward, but there was something menacing out there that he couldn't yet figure out. Could be another vampire or several, or even something they had yet to see?
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Edward looked around quickly, but didn't really move his head. He noticed the shadowy Wraiths lying in wait in the trees, ominously foretelling that there was something deadly stirring.
Many more wolves broke through the tree line, their whining cries echoed through the trees but they stayed there in dis-ease waiting to see if they needed to help their brother.
Edward stood, trying to decipher their chaotic communal thoughts for information from the wolves, but he kept coming up empty. They were still under the impression that Bella was Jake's imprinted and Edward had charmed or dazzled her into believing otherwise.
Suddenly, without thought, Jake turned his furry head toward his pack and then forward towards Bella. He phased before her, completely bare, causing her to divert her head in shock.
Jake, full-monty, was nothing to write home about.
Rosalie scoffed and pointed, causing Jake's fury to amplify, but he made no move to cover himself.
"Bella, come here!" He demanded instead. His body was shaking with anger but Bella only scoffed in disgust backing farther behind Edward.
"You don't get it!" Jake screamed. His thoughts we too delusional to even try to understand, yet Edward was trying. "He's controlling you and you don't even see it! He's charming you with every breath he emits, warping your mind from reality, Bella!"
"And what reality is that, pray tell?" Edward responded before Bella could say anything. His hands were fisted, as if to hold himself back. "That she would be with you instead if I merely held my breath? Of, course… that solves everything! All coming from the adolescent that forcibly removed her from the safety of her home-"
"Enough talking bloodsucker!" Jake seethed. "I can smell it in the air!"
"Well, there are several vampires breathing here, how do you know it's me dazzling her into mating? It could be any from my family wooing her into passive thoughts and action."
"Shut up!" Jake screamed, shaking profusely.
All the sudden his shaking body lashed forward trying to get around Edward and grab at Bella, but instead his human hand phased into a wolf claw and tore open her arm before he turned completely into his wolf form.
Jagged slashes of skin and muscle started to prick bright red blood that glistened in the morning sun.
Bella screamed out in pain, recoiling backward as Jasper sniffed the air with an ominous, guttural purr, but Alice already saw it was already grabbing him. The other Cullen's followed her and held him back.
Edward grabbed Bella and lifted her onto his chest and clutching her arm to lick the wounds shut. But it was too late; the smell of blood was already leeching into the clean forest air and dripped into the soil at her feet.
All Hell broke loose.
Jake had phased into his wolf form, biting at the air to threaten Edward.
The Cullen's released their hold on Jasper as Alice gasped in horror, grabbing her hair and closing her eyes.
Then there was a blur of blonde and red haired sparkling bodies running at them.
Renee.
Demetri
Victoria.
James.
The wolves were descending toward them, frantic to help their brother who was circling Edward, trying to find a weak point to attack.
But all the sudden there was a twisting of bodies and fur as Jake screamed out in agony, his wolf body was either being attacked by at least two vampires or devoured; no one knew.
Horrifying screams and snarling filled the air as the ripping of vampire body parts, tuffs of hair flew around them.
Bella was terrified, feeling that all of it was somehow her fault, but then Emmett came to her side and beamed a terrifyingly bright smile.
"I've never had so much fun, sweets!" He laughed, "Look at Rosalie killing it out there! She's in rare form."
And they all turned to the blur, seeing Rosalie holding Renee at bay as she tried to get at Bella's blood.
Bella gasped at the sight of her mother hissing with blackened blood red eyed, chomping her mouth and new sharp vampire teeth. Venom dripped from the edge of her mouth as she listened to Bella's juicy heartbeat.
"Someone should have fed the newborn before taking her out in public," Rosalie snickered, "Very bad nurturing on your part, Demetri."
Demetri gave a slight shrug as he held a struggling James in a choke hold, before Jasper bunt kicked off his head.
"What can I say, I'm new at this whole mating thing." He smirked as he moved toward his mate, relieving Rosalie from her stance.
The wolves, thoroughly distracted by James vampire body parts flying around, ran trying to fetch them.
They were eager for more vampire chew toys.
But it was then, when the heap of fighting bodies parted to play fetch, that Bella saw Jake in his human form, lying on the ground bleeding.
Victoria stood over him, biting and sucking from his neck.
Everyone stood there, not knowing what to do.
But before they could figure it out, the red-headed vampire lifted her prize into her arms and darted through the forest.
"Um, it that normal?" Demetri asked, as he put the piles of parts of James he had savaged into a heaping pyre.
"Nope." Rose scoffed.
"Should we follow her?" Demetri asked, thoroughly disturbed by what he just witnessed.
"We don't have the time, look!" Carlisle said. He pointed to the trees as the shadows seemed to darken and elongate into the telltale forms of the Wraiths.
"I think they are attracted to the pyre." Esme cried as she pointed to the purple plumes of sickly sweet smell of vampire death.
It was true. They slowly made their way past all those who were standing and surrounded the pyre until it wasn't visible.
James would not be missed.
The wolves slowly made their way over; looking at the Wraiths with wonder, barely noticing yet that they had lost a brother.
When it clicked and they began to search frantically, they saw the smoke and smell of burning fur and surmised that Jacob, too, was destroyed, and his body was hidden by the shadows.
They howled into the rising morning sun before running off into the woods towards their reservation.
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Demetri waved to the Cullen's before he took Renee, albeit forcibly, into the woods and away from the tempting blood of her daughter now that he knew she did need to feed after all.
They didn't look back at as they hit the tree line and advanced through the trees toward Canada.
Then, it was eerily quiet.
No one knew what to say, if there was anything to say, so they all just stood there, watching as the plumes of smoke lessened until they were gone and the shadows fell away into the trees.
"Alice?" Edward said aloud, breaking the silence.
"I see nothing yet, Edward. It's oh so quiet. It's all so still."
He gave a curt nod, since he hadn't read anything in her mind and she wasn't singing songs in her head to block him.
He held his mate as tight as he could, thankful that she was alright, that she was safe and sound, and he hadn't lost her, after all.
"Take me home, Edward." Bella finally said, cradling her arm as he held her to him. "I want to go our home."
He nodded, and made his way towards Forks.
The Cullen's went back to their respective homes, too, all trying to make sense of the day, yet thankful they had managed to save Bella.
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A/N: So a lot going on and as I've read it over several times, I hope I did it justice.. As for E and B, they need a little be of time to recover and get over their day.
Lyrics: "It's oh so quiet" by: Bjork
If you haven't noticed, I'm trying to finish the whole story repost this week. There's only about 24 more pages so a few more chapters. As ever, thank you for reading and I love to read each of your thoughts in your reviews.