Chapter 25
I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT OR CHARACTERS
A rubber band seemed to snap at the back of Bella's mind as all six of those horrible slavering beasts came down on them in a flurry of fur and fangs.
Before she could do a thing, Alice shoved her backwards. Bella did not even have enough sense left to make a noise, but as she suddenly went sailing back, she twisted in the air and landed nimbly on the porch, on her hands and feet like a cat.
A wild and primal command cracked across her mind.
Fight.
With wide eyes, the brunette let loose a furious hiss that choked off the second she looked up and saw the battle blossoming in front of her. Each Cullen whirled and slapped and snarled at a wolf, as Edward and Tanya stood their ground against a particularly monstrously large one, dwarfed only by the black one Leah was currently ripping into.
Or was being ripped into by. The black wolf was a behemoth, and Leah looked so very small and ashy grey, but she ferociously stood her ground against it, fearless.
Suddenly one of the wolves darted after Alice as the tiny vampire streaked to the right to avoid being crushed as it hurled itself at her.
That was when the rage came.
Bella felt her fangs drop low, nearly piercing her lower lip if she had not dropped her mouth open in a guttural growl of fury.
That was Alice, and she loved Alice, and no one was going to hurt her Alice.
No one.
The muscles in her legs locked and then sprang as she vaulted off the porch and soared through the air like a vampiric torpedo. There was no fear, only an instinctive, primal call to protect Alice that consumed her entire being, till it filled her like a firestorm.
She pistoned into the wolf's ribcage, leading with her shoulder, just as it opened its mouth to take a bite at Alice, missing by the tips of her hair. The high pitched yelp of pain it released was disturbingly satisfying as Bella wrapped her arms around it as far as she could and squeezed tightly when they slammed into the ground a second later.
The smell of musk and heat became overpowering as Bella tasted mud and wet grass when the wolf immediately snarled and rolled them over and over on the ground at breakneck speeds. Jagged thoughts pierced her mind, intermixed with the instincts clawing at her mind.
Stupid-Fucking-Dog! Kill you! You won't hurt her! I'll kill you!
The anger became more pronounced as she heard Alice cry her name desperately, boiling in her skull.
"Bella! No, Bella, NO!"
The weight of the beast was suffocating, as it twisted in her grasp and then slipped free, and with a burst of fiery pain she felt razor sharp claws rake her right shoulder and the breath exploded from her lungs as two powerful hind legs kicked her in the stomach and sent her sprawling ten feet away.
Stunned, Bella rolled slowly to her side, and then hissed in shock and for the first time, a trickle of fear that demanded her to move as the wolf was on her immediately, jaws open wide, saliva flying and black eyes glittering murderously, aiming right for her face.
"You bastard, get away from her!" Alice screamed and faster than Bella thought possible, got between them and socked the wolf hard in the muzzle. With another high pitched yelp it rolled away and whined once, eyeing Alice warily before it lowered itself close to the ground and growled low in the back of its throat, hackles rising high.
The sounds of the Cullens fighting the other wolves echoed in Bella's mind, filling the entire yard like some fucked up Discovery channel special, and her shoulder was on fire, but that one growl cut through it all, for one reason.
It was aimed at Alice.
"Bella, stay back. Run, Bella! Don't!" Alice cried, standing over her as Bella rolled onto all fours and bared her fangs, trembling with hate and rage.
In her past life, Bella would have been all human, and probably cowering inside the house, terrified for Alice and her family. She would be weak, defenseless, helpless, able to do nothing but watch as her lover endured mortal peril.
This was not that past life, and she was much more than human.
Whatever she was now, vampire or something new, it didn't matter. All that mattered was her connection for Alice had been folded over itself a thousand times over like a sword is forged, strengthening it infinitely.
When the wolf lunged, so did she.
With a clap that jarred her bones, they collided in mid air. This time, Bella went in swinging, but the wolf wasn't stupid.
She felt teeth rip into her ribs and claws tear into her legs, and even though agony tore through her, something else overrode it. The wolf had her entire middle in its mouth and was crunching down, threatening to literally bite her in two. She vaguely heard Alice scream, Edward call out to them, Emmett bellowing, wolves snarling… And something very soft but very pronounced clicked in the back of her mind.
A flurry of survivalist mechanisms buried so deep and so ancient inside came to life, and suddenly everything was clear, and Bella knew just what to do. She left the storm in her mind and entered the calm of its eye.
They hit the ground and Bella twisted, ignoring the agonizing rake of teeth ripping her skin and looked the wolf right in the eyes.
"Stay," Bella hissed and slugged the wolf with all her might in the furry temple right above its eye. It loosed a whine along with its jaws.
"The fuck," she snarled, and socked it again, this time directly in the eye so that it whimpered and winced, and abruptly let go for the briefest second.
It was enough.
"AWAY from her!"
She hammer fisted the tip of its sensitive nose and with a dog-like cry of pain it reared back, just in time for Alice to drop kick the hell out of it from the side and send it flying away.
"Jesus Christ, Bella!" Alice gasped as Bella lurched to her feet, taking huge gulps of air, eyes slit in a glare. Her chest heaved and her brain throbbed. Surprisingly conscious thoughts were produced.
I won't let them hurt her. I won't. Not my Alice.
But holy shit, that really hurts.
She felt Alice's hands on her arm, tugging, heard her speaking but didn't compute it. Somehow, through the instincts and the rage and the pain, Bella had found her center. She was one with all of it, a part of it, controlling it, but she was not out of it.
And she had no idea how or why.
"Oh god, you're hurt! I told you to run, why don't you listen? Come on, Bella, we have to get you away, now!"
Bella glanced down at herself. Her shirt was ripped and hanging loosely from her frame, in tatters. She could see her bra. She could also see the skin of her stomach and ribs were torn worse than the cloth. Dark red lines, darker than normal blood crisscrossed where the wolf had pulled its teeth along her skin, but they did not drip the thick liquid and even as she watched, the skin seemed to knit itself back together, slowly but surely.
It still hurt like an absolute bitch, but less and less with every second.
"Bella, come on!" Alice cried into her ear, yanking on her arm so hard that her wounded shoulder creaked in protest and Bella hissed at her.
Run? No. There would be no running. This was their home, their territory. Bella had no intentions of fleeing, not in this state of mind.
"Alice! Get Bella out of here!" Carlisle yelled from across the yard as Bella came back to the fray and looked up.
Outside the main tussle, Leah stilled clashed again and again with the biggest of the wolves. She seemed to be faring for the worst as the black wolf ripped into her again and again, putting on her heels, her back, but she came up every time, refusing to run.
The Cullens still battled furiously. Emmett had his wolf in a headlock and it was whimpering pitifully. Rosalie was slapping hers in a furious volley every time it got close. Jasper was whirling around and around the yard with another, trading blow after blow. Edward was trying to pry the jaws of the massive russet one off his leg as Tanya straddled its neck and rained down punches at the back of its skull, while Carlisle and Esme struggled together, facing off with the last two.
Watching these monsters attack her second family brought her so close to the edge of the eye of the storm in her skull that she lurched towards them, held back only by Alice's grip on her arm.
"No, no. Stop it, Bella, stop. Listen to me! You're going to get yourself killed!"
Alice's distress was only making it worse. The overwhelming urge to kill all these mongrel beasts and protect her was all Bella could gain from it.
The wolf Bella and Alice had downed together was squirming on the ground, whimpering. Weakly, it struggled to its feet, then collapsed again as Alice continued to hiss in her ear.
"Bella, we have to go! Come back to me baby, please!"
A dark, dark instinct took over Bella.
Finish him.
Bella bolted for the downed wolf. He was the enemy, weak, in her territory, trying to kill her and all she loved. She would eliminate the threat.
Across the yard, the black wolf saw her. With a blood curdling howl, it slapped the wolf that was Leah so hard that she crumpled with a yelp, turned, and streaked to intercept.
Bella saw the threat at the same time that Alice screamed at her again.
"NO!"
It was too late. Bella slipped back into the storm and launched into the air as the black wolf did the same.
Unlike its smaller companion, the black wolf slammed into her so hard, it felt like she'd tried to tackle a fucking freight train. Bella hit the mud with a grunt of pain and then scrambled beneath the roaring wolf. The taste of something acrid filled her mouth and the trickle of fear she'd felt before turned into a river.
This wolf was not like the others. He was powerful, very powerful. Bella rolled out from under him and felt claws bite into her down deep, pulling flesh from bone, drawing lines of raging agony along her shoulder blades.
It was funny, almost, how quickly she understood how outmatched she was.
And back into the eye of the storm she went, except this time, she was not going to fight her way out of it to survive.
She was going to run, and run like hell.
Bella was on her feet and sprinting in a millisecond flat as the hot breath of the black wolf blasted the back of her neck when it tried to snap its teeth around her throat, snarling in rage that she had dared attempt to kill its pack mate. She managed to slip away when Alice came hurtling up behind it and yanked on its tail to get its attention away from Bella, but was kicked away like an irksome fly a moment later.
Bella normally would have turned and punched it for that, but as it was, the wolf was still more interested in eating her than Alice, so she kept running.
A path opened up in her mind as if it were drawn just for her escape. She just saw it, and without hesitating, Bella bolted into the thickest part of the fighting. She raced past Edward and Tanya and the russet wolf, careened off of Emmett and the wolf he was still struggling to strangle to death, slid like a baseball player sliding to home base underneath the wolf Jasper dueled as the black wolf sailed over them in a powerful leap, and then darted between both Carlisle, Esme, and the two wolves they fought.
The black wolf crashed into the tumult like a bull in a china shop. He slammed into his own pack mates and knocked Carlisle and Esme off their feet. In the ensuing chaos, the wolf lost her, and Bella somehow found the opening as if God himself had pointed her towards it.
"Get out of here Bella!" Esme cried at her.
"Flee Bella, flee!" Carlisle yelled.
She barely heard them, let alone comprehended. She simply couldn't as adrenaline coursed through her brain cells.
Bella slipped out of the fray amidst swinging limbs and claws and teeth and fur and fangs. But then, whatever was telling her where to go and how to stay alive seemed to come to an impasse. She turned in circles, looking for where to go next, dizzy, scared, furious, hurt.
Who to fight, who to kill, how to survive, who to protect, where to run and where to make her stand?
Where's Alice?
Wolves everywhere. Vampires everywhere. Grass and mud slinging and flinging. Cries of pain, wolfish yelps and snarls. It was hellish. Emotions both vampire and human welled in Bella, blending in a maelstrom she couldn't control.
Stop. This needs to stop. What the fuck is happening? Stop, everybody just stop…
Bella clenched at her hair, bent double. She heaved for air, trying to get a grip. She turned and saw the mass of whirling bodies that was wolves and Carlisle and Esme, saw the black wolf meet her eyes and rip out of the fray, having found his prey once more.
And above it all, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alice streaking towards her, and even in the blur that she was at that speed, Bella still made out the blacks of her eyes, the black of her hair, the black of the mud on her apple cheekbones…
Beautiful.
And terrified.
She glanced back at the wolf.
The wolf looked from her, to Alice, and understood more than Bella could ever stand.
The ebony wolf leaped free from the battle around it and charged straight towards Alice, finding an easier enemy to catch, to kill, a girl that would cripple two in one.
No.
Not Alice.
"Alice!" Bella screamed, her heart disappearing out of her chest.
Alice skidded in the mud and tried to change direction only ten feet away from her, eyes wide in surprise and fear, but it was too late. The black wolf closed the distance too fast, was too close too quickly. It reared up on its hind legs with one mighty, huge paw raised in what Bella somehow knew would take Alice's head from her shoulders in a single swipe.
She had nowhere to run. No way to get away.
Alice was going to die.
"STOP!"
The air reverberated.
White hot sensation flooded Bella's bones, radiated from her pores, consumed her, and around the yard, seven bodies simultaneously hit the earth with a resounding thud.
Everyone in the yard stopped and looked at her in shock, and Bella peeled her blazing eyes open. Her arms were outstretched, hands open wide, feet spread apart and legs locked. Her chest heaved and her gut was tugging at her, and all her tendons strained, her veins pulsing.
When Bella finally understood what she was seeing, she didn't understand.
What…?
Lying on the ground at Alice's feet, panting, was a very naked, very Quileute man. He sat up slowly, dumbstruck, covered in mud with bloody claw marks streaking his chest and biceps, with close cropped black hair matted down in the fading grey sunlight.
Bella turned slowly, arms lowering uncertainly, and looked around as the hurricane of her hybrid mind was overridden by bewilderment. At the feet of the Cullens sat five more Quileute men… Or boys, rather. All muddy, and all nude.
Okay.
Ew.
Did I do that? What the hell just happened? What did I just do? Oh my god, my head hurts…
There was a throbbing in her brain. All the millions of chaotic thoughts that had been racing through it seemed to have been expelled with that peculiar blast of energy, and they left their ache behind, imprinted on her mind.
With a start she realized she recognized some of them.
Is that Jacob Black?
Jacob Black was on his knees next to Edward and Tanya, hands over his crotch (thank god), brow furrowed and mouth downturned. Next to Carlisle and Esme were Embry and Quil.
But of course it was. The Quileutes were all wolves, not just Leah. The only question was, why in the hell were they attacking them like this?
And what had Bella clearly done to make them eat dirt? Her veins throbbed, and she felt like she'd just run a mile in three minutes flat. She felt like she'd just run smack into a wall, mentally and physically.
What the fuck is going on? She wondered miserably.
The Cullens seemed as bewildered as she, glancing down at the natives collapsed at their feet, and they were all looking at her in shock like every pair of eyes in the yard was doing.
Across the yard, Bella's eyes met Leah's. She was sprawled out in a puddle of mud, but she lifted her head to gaze back at Bella. The girl's lip was split and she was just as nude as the rest of the Quileutes, but twice as muddy and bloody. She looked savaged, and when their eyes locked, Bella could see the infinite surprise swirling there.
Then the most shit eating grin she'd ever seen in her life spread across Leah's lips. The girl rolled onto her back and began to howl with laughter.
Alrighty.
Hardly appropriate.
But then Leah rarely ever was.
Suddenly self conscious, Bella shifted and blushed.
What the hell just happened? And why is she laughing at me? She wondered, and turned back to Alice, hot and uncomfortable and still aching everywhere. The man at her feet, clearly the oldest of all the-the naked men sitting around was looking at her with such disbelief she felt like she shouldn't even exist under it.
However, it was not he or Alice or even Bella herself that broke the stunned -and admittedly awkward silence— beyond Leah's raucous laughter.
It was Jacob.
"Madre del Sol," he breathed.
Bella glanced at him, pursing her lips.
"What?" she got out. Her voice was hoarse, and a part of her was still telling her to rip his throat out. Even without the fur and tail, she knew he had been part of the vicious wolf pack hell bent on tearing them apart. If she'd liked him more, she might have felt betrayed, but as it was she was confused and enraged. Her instincts simmered. Jake was the russet wolf. He was the second biggest next to Sam and the reason for the chunk of marble missing from Edward's left leg.
"Madre del Sol," Jake repeated louder, and the shock in his eyes softened into something like… Awe?
"Jacob!" the man at Alice's feet barked warningly. Bella turned and scowled at him, showing her fangs at the volume of his voice.
She was not the only agitated by it.
All at once, the yard exploded into motion, and it was all of the Cullens moving. In a smear of simultaneous movements, they all lunged down and wrapped their arms around the neck of a shapeshifter and hauled them to their feet. Bella jolted and bared her teeth in surprise, but relaxed when she saw what they were doing. There was very little resistance from the Quileutes, who all seemed too dazed to fight. Emmett had to stomp the foot of his new hostage to subdue him, but that was it.
The fight seemed to be over, just like that, but the situation was still decidedly sticky.
All this stress was really starting to give her a stomach ache. And Bella found she really didn't like that man being anywhere near Alice after what he'd just attempted to do. He wasn't struggling, but the sight of Alice pressed up against his back with her arm around his throat told something vicious inside her to go over and slaughter the bastard.
She took a step towards them, shoulders drawing up, but Alice stopped her.
"No, Bella. Stay sweetheart," Alice called gently, as if she could read her mind, though her eyes were hard and cold. Bella saw her muscles flex and the man rumbled threateningly, but anyone in the yard could see Alice could snap his neck in the blink of an eye.
Bella found herself really wishing she'd do it. She was not a bloodthirsty person by any means. And as she had calmed, she found the idea of death, of any of them dying was making her feel sick.
Just not that guy. The black wolf. The one that tried to kill Alice.
He could fucking get it.
And maybe Jake too. Edward could hardly stand and was grimacing, yet he still held Jacob in a full nelson as Tanya gripped his right arm tightly.
Looking around at all the Cullens holding the Quileutes in a similar position, the words bad dog came to mind, but she wisely kept that to herself.
Bella slowly turned her face back at Jake, not understanding, but Carlisle translated.
"Mother of the Sun," Carlisle said in a soft voice. "Of course…"
Oookay…
"This is fucking priceless," Leah laughed as she limped over, shameless in her nudity. She cradled her ribs as Bella stood akimbo, trying to convince her heart to stop jumping. Leah was one of them but… But she knew that the girl had been fighting on their side, had stood up to the man that was the black wolf, and that she was Leah Clearwater, not the enemy.
And she was hurt.
"Madre del Sol, alright," Leah went on, snickering. Bella tensed when the girl got near her, but felt no desire to rip out her throat like she did with the rest of the Quileutes. "Of all the damnedest of things…"
"Stay back, Leah!" the man ordered forcefully.
"Bite me, Sam," Leah drawled as she came to a stop next to Bella. "Oh wait, you already did that. Too bad I don't follow your horrible orders anymore, either."
"Leah," Bella breathed uncertainly, warily, worriedly. Her upper lip curled back despite herself at the musky scent of heat Leah carried heavily on her person, but Leah put a hand up in the universal sign of peace.
"Easy, mami. Vengo en paz," Leah said gently in Spanish, to which Bella furrowed her brow at her.
What?
"I come in peace," Leah rolled her eyes. "That was some trick you pulled there, chica. I think Jake shit himself. Or maybe he just smells like that all the time."
There was a long pause as Leah stared at Bella with eyes twinkling, and Bella fought through her befuddlement. She glanced at Alice and could see her physically bristling at Leah's proximity, but she seemed ill willing to step away from the 'Sam' guy. He was their leader after all, if Bella had it right.
The powerful impulse to murder Sam twisted her insides, but she fought it back.
"I have no idea what's going on," Bella admitted, turning back to Leah when no one else said anything. The lack of explanation, going from full tilt war mode to dead silence was starting to get to her frazzled self.
"You usually don't," Leah smirked, and Bella narrowed her eyes at her before she realized Leah was still kidding. How was she kidding right now at all after that crap?
"Are you… Are you okay?" Bella inquired hesitantly. She glanced around, unsure how the Cullens felt about her conversing like this with one of the shapeshifters, but none of them said a word.
Useless.
Whatever she was now and however she felt about these wolves in instinct, and as bad as Leah smelled, and even though they weren't technically friends anymore, none of that erased the fact that she still cared for the girl, at least a little.
Not to mention Leah had been the only warning they'd had about this little get together.
Fucking wolves. What the hell was their problem?
"Oh, I'm just peachy now," Leah muttered, and Bella glanced down at her wounded body before looking back up abruptly when she realized the girl was butt freakin' naked. She blushed, and Leah gave her a wolfish grin. Too wolfish. But all too familiar.
"Are you okay?" Leah asked a moment later, her face softening with that slight hint of concern she was ever willing to let show in her almond eyes.
Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth, and that fluttery feeling tumbled in Bella's stomach again, faint but real. She glanced at the drop sliding down Leah's chin and her heart skipped a tiny beat. She licked her lips before she answered, and Leah's jaw seemed to tighten just a bit.
Is that bloodlust? Can we not right now? Like I don't have enough to deal with without going all Dracula on Leah Clearwater…
"I'm fine. I think," Bella replied, wincing when she rolled her shoulder blades and felt them sting where Sam had clawed her. "I just want to know what the hell is going on."
"Let me see if I can help you out," Leah said with a scoff. "You see that asshole over there by Pixie Sticks? That's Sam Uley. He's the one that ordered this little attack."
"Leah," Sam ground out through clenched teeth and jerked in Alice's arms.
The effect was instantaneous. Alice's hand clamped down on one of his shoulders and she dug her nails into the muscle. Sam jerked again and with a feral rumble, he bared his teeth, and his skin rippled. His eyes flashed yellow, but Alice didn't flinch. She hooked her other hand under his jaw and glared at him.
"I dare you," Alice spat, voice icy steel. "I dare you."
A flash of pride for Alice went through Bella.
Her girl was a total bad ass, honestly. And adorable at the same time. How did she manage that?
Bella tensed when she heard the other Quileutes echo his growling, and glanced back to see Jasper's bicep flex around the neck of the young man he held prisoner in his powerful arms.
At least the shape shifters seemed to be gimped in their human forms. The Cullens were having no trouble holding them still.
"I wouldn't advise that," Jasper murmured in his Southern lilt.
The sound of his voice after so long made something inside Bella jump, and something else stiffen. He looked up and Bella rubbed her tongue anxiously against the roof of her mouth. The hairs on the back of her neck rose and she flexed her hands.
Jasper Hale…
His expression was unreadable. Why was he back? Had he known, somehow, that the Cullens were going to be attacked? His help was undoubtedly appreciated, but something inside Bella went on edge just seeing him…
She didn't know what it was. Now was not the time to figure it out.
"Stop it, Art," Jake said to the boy. "There's nothing we can do. You know that."
"Damn right there's not. Someone remind me why we haven't slit their throats yet?" Rosalie interjected, and flashed her fangs at Quil when the native scowled over at her. "Try me, Kibbles 'n Bits!"
"Rose!" Carlisle reprimanded.
"No, she's right. Why haven't we snapped their necks yet? They broke the fuckin' treaty. I don't know what Bella just did but on the off chance it was a one time thing I say we do to these mutts what they tried to do to us!" Emmett snapped. The La Push native he held trapped in his massive arms seemed to be turning purple, and was struggling to breathe.
"It wasn't a one-time thing!" Jacob interrupted fervently, ignorant to Edward's tightening grip on his throat. "Bella es el Madre del Sol! She is the Mother of the Sun!"
"Jake, dude, shut up!" Embry groaned as Sam sighed and Quil muttered idiot under his breath. "You're making it worse!"
"What does that mean?" Bella huffed to Leah, exasperated. "I'm the 'Mother of the Sun'? And why did you guys try to attack us in the first place? Seriously, what the hell? You know, I get that we weren't exactly friends or anything, but you just tried to kill me and my family!"
Embry and Quil turned away from the heat of Bella's glare, and Jake looked ashamed, and that only made her angrier.
They tried to murder us. They really did…
"That's right, Jake. I hope you feel as shitty as you look, you coward," Leah snapped at said boy. "Tell me, am I the bitch in this pack, or excuse me, out of this pack now, or are you? Sam's bitch, right?"
Jake locked his jaw and refused to respond to Leah's taunt, but Bella whirled on her.
"And why did you try to stop them? You were trying to warn us before Jasper threw you. Aren't you one of them?" she demanded.
"Oh yeah, thanks for that Superman. I really appreciated those dashing heroics of yours," Leah said and side eyed Jasper with blatant annoyance.
He gazed back steadily, unaffected. "I thought you were trying to break in," he said.
"You really think if I had wanted to break in I would have done it like that?"
"You cracked my window," Esme interjected, sounding angry. Bella heard the fierce protectiveness in her voice. Out of her and Carlisle, it was the Cullen matriarch who hated the most any harm to their children.
"You weren't listening to me. I got a little frustrated, sorry. Wolf temper," Leah shrugged, and Esme's eyes narrowed dangerously until Carlisle put a hand on her shoulder. "Anyway Izzy, yes, I'm one of them technically. Or not anymore. I've been excommunicated from this cute little pack for refusing to slaughter you and your er… Family, for no good reason," Leah said, sounding completely apathetic about it, even as several of her former pack members spat on the ground when she spoke, and looked at her like the scum of the earth.
"I told you I'd be there for you if you ever needed me, remember?" Leah murmured when Bella looked skeptical.
"You're a filthy traitor, you leech lover. How could you?" Embry shouted at her, unable to keep silent.
"You were never one of us," Quil spat. "You're supposed to be there for your pack, not that undead freak!"
Bella cast Quil a deadly glower and felt the hair on the back of her neck rise.
Jake remained silent, as did Sam, but the rest of the shape shifters echoed in agreement. Leah gave them a one fingered salute and did not look away from Bella.
A profound surge of affection for Leah took Bella, and a strong camaraderie filled her. Leah had turned on her pack mates for her? She'd broken that bond for Bella, to keep her safe? How hard must it have been to run from her family and friends, to sever those ties, even turn and fight them?
Whatever had broken between them resealed, and Leah seemed to sense it as Bella relaxed beside her fully. Somehow even the stink seemed to lessen as any ill will Bella might have bore her evaporated instantly.
Oh Leah… You were a better friend than I ever knew. I should never have cut you off like that… And these assholes can shut their disgusting mouths. She's better than any of those murderous mutts. We never did anything to anyone.
"Thank you," Bella said softly, sincerely, but Leah just waved it off. The vampire inside her had stopped bristling at Leah's nearness entirely. In fact, it seemed to be relaxed by it now.
Finicky bipolar instincts. It was giving Bella whiplash. And a migraine.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Any-who. That's not important," Leah said, thought it clearly was to both of them, and anyone in the clearing.
Leah had picked her side, and it was one none of them had ever expected her to pick. And she was taking it all with a cool, unaffected air. Bella wondered how much of it was a front. Probably a lot. But even in her birthday suit in a group full of naked dudes she was holding her ground.
Seriously.
That was a lot of muddy penis.
Blech.
If Alice hadn't converted her to true lesbianism, this definitely would.
"When Jake calls you el Madre del Sol," Leah drawled scornfully, apparently moving on, putting air quotes around el Madre del Sol, "Mother of the Sun, that whole pizzazz, he's referring to the magical voodoo you pulled when you made all of us eat mud."
That explained literally nothing, Bella thought, and it pissed of the Quileutes all over again.
"Shut the hell up Leah! Don't you dare give away Quileute secrets!" Quil roared.
"They're legends, stupid, not secrets. You can Google them!" Leah rolled her eyes, unperturbed.
Was she the only one who had no idea what everyone was babbling about or what they were all smoking?
"Everyone please, calm down. Fighting solves nothing, as was just proven," Carlisle finally spoke up.
"Easy for you to say with your arms around our necks, you blood sucking freak!" Quil snarled, digging his fingers into Carlisle's forearm furiously.
"Watch your mouth, you filthy animal!" Rosalie scowled.
"What'd you call me, bi-?"
"Are you seriously about to go there? You're literally a dog. Don't open yourself up to all those canine related insults, please," Rosalie cut him off.
"Hey, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, are you quite finished?" Leah interrupted. Carlisle shut Rosalie up with a look when the blonde cast Leah a cold expression, and shut Quil up by tightening his arm imperceptibly, but enough for him to get the point.
Bella's head whirled, and was starting to hurt. She rubbed at her forehead and noticed the pain in her back was almost gone. She glanced at her stomach and saw the vivid lines the wolves claws had left were completely gone.
Bella was learning more and more about what she was capable of. All it did was make her dizzy. She wasn't really processing anything.
"Alright… Whatever. I don't care about any of that crap," Bella shook her head and took a heavy breath, scenting blood and earth and peppermint, heat and musk. It all mixed into a heady drug that taunted her instincts and she twisted her head on her neck, to fight them. Leah sensed her turmoil and stepped away. Bella was afraid she was going to lose control of her mind again under all the stress.
"All I want to know is why you guys attacked us like this. What the hell was all this for? Whatever I am… I don't care. I want to know why you just attempted to slaughter us out of nowhere," she said.
She could learn about her cool new superpowers later, when her brain stopped trying to convince her to kill everyone that had demonstrated a tendency to turn into an overgrown dog.
"They broke the treaty," Sam spoke up, cringing and rumbling as Alice's nails pierced his skin. The pixie's face was tight and drawn, and Bella wanted nothing more than to be at her side, running her hands over her, checking every inch of the girl for injury. She remembered vividly Sam towering over her, ready to sweep her head from her shoulders, and it took all she had not to stalk over and slice his neck wide open in the natural rage pooling in her brain.
My Alice, my sweet Alice. You monster. How dare you?
Alice, for her part, looked fearless and deadly, like some mud smeared avenging angel. It made Bella proud of her lover even as powerful nurturing instincts stirred for her.
If Sam had hurt her…
Bella didn't even want to think about it, let alone if the wolf had managed to kill her.
She would never forgive Sam Uley. Never.
"What treaty?" Bella snapped at him, voice gravelly.
"Bella, we have a treaty with the Quileute wolves. Our history goes back a long and violent way, but to live in this town, we made a pact not to go on La Push land and vowed off of human blood. We do that anyways, but it's part of the deal. If one of us bites a human, the treaty is considered void. But Sam, we did not bite Bella," Carlisle explained.
"Oh yeah? And who else would have done it? You all are around her constantly. We know her blood sings to all of you," Sam argued, his throat straining against Alice's arm, which seemed to be tightening by the minute.
Good. Bella hoped she'd strangle him. Their eyes kept flicking off of each other's. She was aware of Alice's presence more than anyone else's. What Bella wanted more than anything else in the world was to curl up against her lover, and pretend like none of this shit was happening.
"How about that bitch you were supposed to be helping us keep under control?" Emmett barked at him.
"The redhead?" Jake scowled, abruptly angry. "She left town! We haven't smelled her in weeks. You're lying. One of you lost control, now own up to it!"
"Is that why she broke into Bella's house on prom night, mutt? She was probably hovering around the school and your 'amazing' noses as dipshit over there dubbed them didn't even pick up a hint of her!" Rosalie snarked, and Quil growled at her for the insult.
Bella realized something abruptly like a slap to the face.
"That's why you guys transferred to Forks?" she gawked at Leah, who pursed her lips and nodded.
"Yeah. Too many vamps in town around humans. No bueno, si? We were keeping a closer eye on things. Or trying to," Leah explained. "Obviously it didn't work out, because… Well, here you are." Leah gestured the length of Bella and sighed as if regretful. She almost looked pained.
"Why do you speak Spanish all of the sudden?" Bella frowned. "And a lot?"
"I've spoken Spanish since I was like three…" Leah cocked an eyebrow at her. "All Quileutes do. It's our native language."
"Oh."
Quil ruined their little side conversation by exploding on Rosalie.
"And where were you? We didn't see you freaks sniffing her out either!" Quil said furiously. "You're the ones with the super special powers. How come you didn't pick up on her and let us know so we could run her out of town again? Oh yeah, because she was never there. You just need an alibi! I bet it was you, you blonde slut, always harping on everyone-"
Emmett flung the young man in his arms to the ground so hard he face planted in the mud with a yelp, and stormed towards Quil, and Rosalie said something in Spanish that was undoubtedly vulgar and insulting that set half the clearing to snarling and yelling.
Leah snickered as Bella grimaced at the tension and tensed in preparation for any of the shapeshifters to explode into a wolf and the war to be back on. Someone pulled the rubber band back into position, ready to snap.
"I like her," Leah muttered to Bella under her breath, grinning as Rosalie made a lewd gesture with one hand and continued to berate Quil in flawless Spanish, which seemed to infuriate him all the more that she was badgering him in his own language. He began to struggle wildly in Carlisle's arms.
"Emmett, no. Back off!" Carlisle shouted furiously. "Rosalie, stop antagonizing them!"
"Quil, stand down!" Sam snarled from across the yard. "ALL of you! Don't shift, any of you!"
Emmett halted a foot away from Quil and gave him a look that could melt stone. All the Quileutes seemed to still at the same time under Sam's voice, even Quil, who looked mutinous, as if they couldn't stop themselves. They all glanced from their Alpha to Bella, as if fearing she would pull her magical voodoo again.
There was something satisfying in that fear.
Oh, so they think I've got them by the leash?
Good. Let them think that. Even if Bella didn't, she was glad they thought so.
"Alpha powers. They literally can't disobey. And I will never have to endure that shit again. Never again," Leah said softly in explanation, her voice dark.
Bella was getting really upset and sick of this. She felt close to puking. Ever since she'd flung her arms out wide and made the air vibrate like the world's best bass line coming from the world's best speakers, she'd felt woozy.
She didn't really get the whole el Madre del Sol crap, nor did she really care. If it was keeping the shapeshifters from attacking again or trying anything, fine, they could believe whatever they wanted about her.
But it was really pissing her off how the wolves were acting towards her family, and she'd be damned if she let anyone call her a liar.
"We're telling the truth Sam. We did not change Bella," Carlisle reiterated determinedly. "Victoria Sutherland came back and under some Volturi motive and protection, she bit Bella."
Bella noted the way he did not say they didn't bite Bella. Because Alice had before. And Bella knew she was remembering it too by the guilty flash in her eyes and the apologetic way she gazed at Bella from across the yard.
God, that seemed so long ago… Had they really come so far from that night? And yet it still felt like they had so far to go…
"Who are the Volturi?" Sam scowled. "I don't believe it. You're making things up. We can see it with our eyes. Look at her. Bella is one of you now… Even if she is different. Whether she is the Mother of the Sun is to be determined, but what we know for fact is that one of you did this to her and for that, we will kill you-"
"Shut the fuck up, Sam Uley."
The yard went silent as Bella spoke. Her voice sounded different to her own ears, colder than she'd ever imagined it could be. Her stomach was tightening with that now familiar rage, and the back of her skull was getting hot. She could practically see the rubber band tensed back, ready to snap. She held onto it, barely.
"I don't know you," Bella said softly, smoothly. She stepped towards him and he tightened his jaw as Alice tightened her arm, looking alarmed at the change in her Bella. "I don't know a whole lot about your legends and your treaties and the history between the wolves and the vampires, but I do know this. You will not threaten my family, and you will not call them liars. Victoria Sutherland turned me, not any of the Cullens."
Sam didn't say a word, and when Bella went on, her voice was raw and hard, quietly furious, on the brink of snapping.
"And you will not be killing them for any reason, let alone a false one. And if you ever, ever go after my Alice again…" Bella hissed, and realized she was close to him, close enough to smell his heat and musk. She trailed away, and when she looked up, Alice's eyes met hers.
They were bright even as twilight fell around them. Dark, swirling, and filled with a passionate pride and love that swelled Bella's heart and soothed the fire in the back of her mind. She let the threat hang. She didn't know how to back it up anyway.
I just love her so much. So, so much, Alice, I love you… How could I ever let him hurt you, let anyone hurt you? My Alice…
What would she do really? She'd seen what Sam was capable of in his wolf form. Bella was some newborn fawn wobbling around on shaky legs, attacking only because the balls of her instincts overrode any common sense. She could zap him again maybe, but she had no idea how she'd done that in the first place and had no idea how to replicate it.
And yet…
He had tried to kill Alice. Right in front of her. Purely because he knew it would cripple Bella, to get to her. That made her a hundred times more furious, that he would use Alice to get to her, make it her fault that Alice died…
No fucking way.
Sam Uley was on her shit list for life.
She was still Bella, the Bella she'd always been, but now Bella had been tainted by the lick of real mortal danger, had plunged into the fight alongside her vampires, as one of them, and tasted what they tasted.
Fear. Pain.
And nearly death.
Whether she realized it or not, Bella was changing in so many different ways, so very quickly.
"Bella," Alice said softly, and Bella softened imperceptibly.
Alice's voice was the only thing that could ever call her back from the storm. She looked away from Sam to keep from sinking her fangs into his throat and tearing. The image both sickened and elated her.
What have I become? What am I becoming? Bella wondered uncertainly, weakly. Who am I now, if I feel things like this? Was I always this way, or is it the change doing it to me?
The yard was silent, and it made Bella hot and uncomfortable as she realized she'd silenced everyone with her threat. Everyone was looking at her again, some with respect, some with curiosity, some with loathing, some with worry, depending on if they were wolf or vampire.
Bella suddenly felt exhausted, bone weary.
What a way to wake up, she thought, annoyed.
Some people woke up with coffee, maybe some breakfast, a newspaper in their hands and a little TV.
Bella woke up to werewolves and vampires battling it out to the death.
Awesome.
"Everyone please… Just calm down. It doesn't have to be this way," Carlisle tried again. He had his doctor's voice on, the one that could convince you that you were in tip top shape in the middle of your death throes. "It doesn't have to be this way. We have existed in peace for so long. Let us not ruin it over miscommunication or misunderstanding. Grave injustices have been committed today, and blood has been spilled, but none else needs to be. We are all angry and upset, and no real solution is made in death and violence."
"You wanna bet?" Quil ground out through clenched teeth over his shoulder at Carlisle. "Let me go and we'll see-"
Carlisle let him go.
Quil was so stunned that he stumbled a step forward, then turned and immediately began shaking with flashing yellow eyes.
"Quil!" Sam barked. "Stand down!"
Quil flinched and staggered back, and then growled in frustration, but obeyed. He had no choice. Bella thought there was something sick about that, that he had no ability to disobey, and if she'd still liked Quil at all she might have felt bad for him.
As it was…
"Carlisle's right," Sam admitted a moment later, though he sounded pained to do so. "We may have… Acted rashly."
Leah's snort and guffaw was so obnoxious that Bella had to bite her bottom lip to stop her smirk, and Leah grinned at her.
Damn it. The girl could make even the tensest situation kind of funny.
Bella quit smiling when she saw Alice glaring daggers at both of them. She wondered if Alice's claim was still on her. When Leah wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at Alice, she figured it must be. She thought Alice was going to break her jaw from clenching it so hard, which made her feel awful.
This situation was entirely too tense and serious for Leah to be cracking jokes.
And yet…
Jealous Alice was still fiercely attractive. But Bella saw that it was mostly protectiveness, and she knew Alice must be hating the blurred lines Leah was drawing. It made her ache for her lover.
"Everyone just calm down," Carlisle went on soothingly, gently. "Family, release the Quileutes. We are not enemies here. Calm yourselves."
The looks he got suggested that yeah, they were definitely enemies.
"Carlisle," Emmett complained.
"This is a mistake," Rosalie warned.
Esme was the first to let go, and even she gave Carlisle a wary glance. Embry rubbed his neck ruefully when she did and went to stand by Quil. Jasper was next, then Emmett, and Rosalie finally sighed and shoved the boy in her arms away. He glared at her, saw Emmett glaring at him for it, and immediately stopped. Edward and Tanya both stepped away from Jake, and they all shared a tense glare when Jake shuffled away from them. He was holding his head awkwardly to the side, and a black bruise was blossoming on the back of it where Tanya had punched him over and over.
That left Alice.
"Alice," Esme called when Alice stared back at everyone waiting impatiently for her to let go. The wolves began to tense when she made no move to let go. There was a look in her eyes that was fiery, one that always made Bella's stomach clench and her heart flip, that look that said Alice could stop the unstoppable force and move the immovable object with her passion.
There was a wicked glimmer in her eyes, one of barely suppressed fury. Bella realized Alice hated Sam as much as she did. He had tried to kill her too. She felt his phantom breath at the back of her neck.
Their eyes met.
Do it, part of Bella urged her. Snap his neck. Kill him. He would have done the same if the roles were reversed. He tried to. Do it, Alice, kill that bastard.
Something inside Bella recoiled at her own thoughts, and she shook the murderous rage away with a heavy effort.
Maybe someday Sam…
Just not today.
"Alice," Bella said gently. "Alice, baby… Let him go. It's over…"
Alice's eyes flashed, and then she shoved Sam away forcefully, ignoring the way he cocked his head and rumbled. In a split second, she blurred over to Bella, and slid an arm around her waist, pulling them close in a shroud of white chocolate and berries that was a balm to any negative feeling inside Bella.
God she smells amazing. And she's so beautiful. Don't ever leave my side again, Alice. Don't you dare…
She inhaled deeply, and Leah seemed torn between disgust and amusement.
"What it do, Pixie Sticks," Leah greeted her, and Alice didn't deign to give that a response. Bella wished she'd stop antagonizing her girlfriend.
Leah suddenly tensed and stiffened, and Bella quickly saw what she was looking at.
A boy, the youngest of any others, was walking up behind Sam. He was cradling his face, and blood was seeping between his fingers from what looked to be a broken nose. He was small, with nowhere near as much muscle as his brethren or even Leah. He looked like he might change into a Chihuahua, not a werewolf.
"Oh damn," he stopped when he saw everyone staring at him. "What did I miss?"
"Ay dios mio, what the fuck, Seth?" Leah yelled and stormed over to the boy. "Oye loca, ven aqui! Ahora!"
'Seth' winced at the volume of Leah's voice, and Bella wondered vaguely why the Quileutes were reverting to their native language so much. Maybe it was the stress? And why was Leah so upset over that one kid?
She realized with a start the dazed looking kid must have been the wolf she and Alice had tag teamed. He'd finally recovered. She wondered how she'd ever forgotten about him. He'd been the one trying to snap her spine.
He was the smallest in the clearing, and next to Sam, the one Bella's vampire side couldn't stand the most.
"Leah, chill. Stop it!" Seth complained when Leah grabbed his face and began tilting it left and right, examining him.
"Your nose is broken, idiota! I told you to stay home! Sam, you were supposed to keep him there!" Leah shouted furiously at both Seth and Sam.
"Seth is a part of this pack now, Leah. It's his duty to fight with us. You, however, are not one of us anymore. You chose exile. Do not presume to lecture me. You chose your side. Seth has chosen his," Sam growled and Leah cast him a vicious look that could singe his eyebrows.
"Don't you dare, you bastard. You'd get him killed for your ego?" Leah snarled.
"How dare you? Who are you to speak of egos?" Sam bowed up and Leah shoved Seth behind her with a low, feral noise that was anything but human.
"We have no obligation to protect you, Leah. If you are one of them, then you're the enemy too," Quil put his two cents in, unwanted.
"You can try it, pretty boy," Leah hissed, skin rippling as if any moment she might change. Something in Bella bristled too, for Leah.
Quil needed to back off of her.
Now.
"He's right. You're the enemy now," Sam agreed, his voice rugged. All of them seemed on the verge of transforming, and Bella suddenly realized how outnumbered Leah was.
And how much Leah didn't care.
"You can get it too Sam. I'm not afraid of you, puta, never have been, never will be! You wanna have another go? Come on then!" Leah spat scathingly.
Sam towered over her and Seth said pleadingly, "Leah, stop it. Please just stop."
Sam locked eyes with her and Leah let loose a ferocious snarl.
"That's right, your Alpha shit doesn't work on me anymore. I'm not your little bitch anymore, Sam. And wouldn't Emily just love to see you now? Putting Seth in danger, trying to kill me?"
The mention of the woman Emily seemed to anger Sam further, and he bit out his reply with as much venom as he could.
"Emily doesn't care about you anymore, Leah. She picked me remember? And you picked them," Sam snarled, and Leah's face twisted up. Bella knew he'd hit a nerve.
"Get bent!"
"Don't talk to him like that!" Quil shouted.
"Back off, traitor!" Embry yelled.
"Aye, come and get it if you want it, bitch boys! You don't see me running!" Leah hissed, going nose to nose with both of them.
They both took a step forward and the smack of Sam's palms on their chests to hold them back rang out the second before something clicked in Bella's brain, and she found herself standing right behind Leah with her hand on her shoulder.
"Back off!" Bella growled. "All of you, back off. I'll put you right back in your cages, I swear. If you want her you're gonna have to go through me."
"And me."
Bella jolted in shock as she felt Alice's hand on her own shoulder, heard her high voice declaring in her ear. She turned and saw her lover at her side, fearlessly staring down Sam.
Bella had not made the conscious decision to back Leah, but as the situation had escalated, she realized she couldn't not.
Leah had fought for her, against everyone she knew and loved. She was standing alone in two groups who were rejecting her, and Bella knew deep in her bones that she was not going to let Leah stand alone any more.
Whatever the consequences, she'd moved. Leah was her friend.
And they were not going to hurt her. Not anymore.
She was surprised that Alice was backing her on this, but it wasn't like she had much choice. If Bella was going to fight, so was Alice. There was no other option.
"And us as well," Edward said as he approached, his hand in Tanya's. Behind them Emmett cracked his knuckles, walking over as well.
Ah… And of course, the Cullens couldn't let them go in without backup. Seeing them walk up gave Bella a surge of confidence. Damn, they could be really menacing when they wanted to.
"The testosterone is smothering me," Rosalie sighed as she approached behind her husband. "But I'll bare it if it means I get to put Fido there in the corner. At least one of you mutts has some sense…"
Quil bared his teeth but Sam tensed. Carlisle and Esme approached last, and their eyes were calm but determined. They didn't have to say it. Their children had decided, because if Bella was going to fight, Alice sure as hell would too, and if both of them were in then so were their siblings.
Bella really, really loved the Cullens. A lot. Was she tearing up?
Damn it.
Leah, for her part, seemed too stunned to talk. Bella didn't look at her, but she hoped she understood.
She's not alone. I won't let her be, she thought. Even though I'm pretty sure she could run Embry and Quil around this yard all by herself. None of us put those marks on Sam's chest. That was all Leah…
The shape shifters all crowded towards their Alpha, who hesitated before speaking again. He seemed to have noticed that not only were they outnumbered, but where the Cullens had already healed up from any wounds, his pack was still injured.
And Bella was a wild card that might or might not force them into their weaker human forms if they decided to shift.
"We… Apologize for any mistakes we made today. Our intentions were not to break the treaty. I am still not certain it hasn't been breached. We acted as we thought fit. We thought you'd turned Bella, as all evidence seemed to suggest. We will have the truth… But we will do it in a more civilized manner," Sam said slowly, pointedly ignoring Leah, who glared daggers at him.
"Another time, perhaps?" Carlisle replied easily as if they weren't all seconds away from going for each other's throats again. "When we are all more relaxed and our wounds have been tended. We won't forget this assault lightly," he added with a hint of hardness in his tone. "But civility is always better than violence. For now, the treaty should be assumed valid, not void. And Sam… If you ever attack my family like that again, we won't stop when we get the upper hand. Treaty or no treaty. Death will only be the answer when you leave it to be the only answer we have left to give."
It was as good a threat as Carlisle had ever given, and all it got was a few growls from the wolves and a grimace from Sam.
He nodded once, turned to his pack, and jerked his head once towards the trees.
At once they all lurched upwards in an explosion of fur and fangs and landed with loud thuds on their massive paws. Even seeing them again after everything, Bella's eyes still rejected the fantastical image.
They cast one last loathing glance at the Cullens, then took off.
Good fuckin' riddance, Bella thought, slumping slightly. Alice's arm wound around her waist again and Bella sank into her gratefully.
Sam stopped and looked back when Seth only stared at Leah, apparently torn. He barked once and Seth flinched.
"Go, baby brother," Leah jerked her head, voice hard.
Bella understood immediately why Leah had acted the way she did.
Her brother? Her little brother?
No wonder she'd flown off the handle… And how painful this must be for her. Bella's heart went out to her for the thousandth time. There was barely hidden pain in her voice. Where the others hadn't been able to touch her, it was easy to see Seth was her only weakness, the only one she really cared about out of all of them.
"But…" Seth hesitated.
"Go, Seth."
Seth swallowed, shifted, and then sprinted after Sam, who only moved when Seth reached him. Together they disappeared into the forest after their pack, and Leah shrugged Bella's hand off.
Then there was silence, and a very clear problem. Leah turned and saw them all staring at her, and finally crossed her arms over her breasts, looking uncomfortable. She adopted a grim scowl to hide the obvious uncertainty she had.
"Where are you going to go now?" Bella inquired, concerned, ignoring how edgy the other Cullens looked by her.
Leah had fought for them, warned them.
But she was also a wolf.
Alice's hand was tight on her hip, but Bella didn't care. They were not going to give Leah an insincere thank you and leave her all on her own.
Forget that.
"Not back to La Push, that's for sure," Leah scoffed. "Thanks, by the way. You didn't have to do that… Any of you. And you probably shouldn't have. They're going to hate you even more for protecting me."
"I really don't give a damn if they hate me right now," Bella said hotly.
"I hope they do," Emmett grumbled.
"You can't just sleep on the streets or something though. You can stay with me and Charlie. I'll talk to him, and we'll figure something out," Bella suggested.
She was already thinking of ways to get Leah taken care of. Thankfully with the battle adrenaline pumped out of her skull, she was able to think quickly and concisely with her modified brain. Which still ached.
Whatever she'd done to shift the wolves back had taken something out of her. She leaned further into Alice, who supported her easily, lovingly. She felt Alice's lips brush her temple, and shivered beneath the kiss. Alice pulled her closer.
"Actually, Bella… That won't work," Esme intervened as Leah grimaced.
"Why not?" Bella frowned.
"It doesn't matter, I'm not going to intrude," Leah waved her off. "I'll find a place. Somewhere…"
"You don't even have clothes to wear," Rosalie interrupted. She was eyeing Leah like a newly discovered insect. Gross, but curious. "The only place you'll find is a brothel. Seriously, are we really all okay with how many penises we just saw flopping around? Am I the only one scarred for life here?"
Leah side eyed Rosalie with a slight smirk and said, "I never took you of all the Cullens to be the prude."
"Despising a bunch of four inchers acting like eight inchers is not being a prude," Rosalie snapped back.
"Fair enough. We're a little oblivious to nudity at this point," Leah chuckled, and then winced and gripped her side. She muttered a Spanish swear and glanced down to see blood leaking between her fingers from a gash between her ribs.
Bella felt giddy without warning as she smelled something sweet and coppery in the air, and realized it was Leah's blood. She shook her head roughly and thought No, nope, nuh-uh, not going there. Stop it.
That blood smelled good. Really good.
Stop it.
"You'll stay with us," Esme said firmly, and everyone, literally everyone looked at her in shock.
"You can't be serious," Rosalie gawked.
"That is a phenomenally bad idea," Tanya frowned.
"Mother…" Edward sighed. They all wrinkled their noses at Leah, who jutted her chin at them with a glare.
Bella despised their despise for Leah. They had no right, not anymore. Even if Bella thought it was a bad idea to drop the spark that was Leah into the gunpowder barrel that was a house full of vampires.
"And we'll be happy to accommodate you," Esme cut her children's protests off with a scowl. "After you fought for us, how could we not? We're eternally grateful Leah. You gave us the only warning we had… Even if you did crack my new window."
"I agree with Esme. Leah, all our hospitality and thanks is yours," Carlisle agreed.
"Dude, why not?" Emmett threw in. "She's a hell of a fighter, and banging for a wolf. She fought those assholes for us, and held off that Sam douchebag like he was nothing. I say bring her in."
Bella grinned at Emmett, and he winked at her when no one was looking. Rosalie elbowed him in the side for complimenting Leah.
Leah looked touched, and disturbed all at once. "Um… Thanks, but no thanks. I think I'll have to pass. Seriously, I'll be fine-"
"Nonsense. Come here, dear. At least for the time being, you'll stay here. Carlisle can doctor you up, and we'll get you a hot shower and some clothes," Esme insisted in that no-questions-asked tone as everyone looked at her like she'd grown three heads.
Bella didn't blame them in the end.
How were they going to shelter a shapeshifter in the house after that? Bella thought it a miracle that they'd all stood up for Leah like that in the first place, for Bella's sake or not. And why the hell couldn't she stay with Bella and Charlie?
"Why can't she stay with me and my dad?" Bella inquired.
"We'll explain later, Bella," Carlisle said softly as Esme -despite her kindness— took Leah daintily by the hand in two fingers and began leading her towards the house, muttering soothingly to her and chatting in a forced amiable tone of voice.
Leah looked over her shoulder and mouthed help at Bella, looking frightened and bewildered, and Bella shrugged helplessly.
Esme could be quite willful sometimes. Bella didn't feel much like arguing with the matron, and besides, apparently that was the only option for Leah anyway.
"She is so weird," Rosalie muttered.
"Rose," Carlisle sighed. "Come on, all of you. We all need to get cleaned up, and there is much to discuss. Oh, and Jasper?"
Bella stiffened. She had almost forgotten that Jasper was even there. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him standing far away in the yard, unmoving from where he'd grabbed one of the Quileutes. He had not come to Bella's aid when she stood up for Leah.
He approached slowly, arms folded behind his back. He came to a halt next to Alice, and something inside Bella viciously recoiled at him. She smothered it desperately with a flash of guilt, remembering the terms they'd left everything on.
"Yes, father?" Jasper answered.
"Welcome home, son," Carlisle smiled softly, and Jasper nodded in acknowledgement, just barely.
"I'm… Glad to be back," he said slowly, and when he glanced at Alice out of the corner of his eye while deliberately ignoring Bella's gaze, Bella's throat tightened.
Why is he back?
"Yeah, welcome home bro!" Emmett beamed and clapped him on the shoulder. "You got here just in time for the party!"
"Welcome home, Jasper," Edward smiled, as Rosalie echoed the sentiments, and they all crowded him. Jasper smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes.
"Welcome back, Jasper," Bella spoke up, though her tongue felt like it was sticking to the bottom of her mouth. The words sounded weird and shaky out of her mouth, and Alice's hand slid up to her ribcage.
His eyes followed the movement. Everyone got quiet, and Bella felt flames fanning inside her. Was it anger? Was it shame? Jealousy? Embarrassment?
There was a long pause of silence, and then Jasper gave her the weakest smile, more of a quirk of the lips really, and inclined his head towards her.
"Thank you, Bella. All of you. We should really head in though. I'm not sure who I feel worse for-Esme for having to take care of the dog, or Leah for having to endure Esme's brand of, er… Hospitality."
They all chuckled at his weak joke and followed him as he began to walk towards the house. As he walked, Bella could not stop the question burning up through her gut, because Alice was dead silent, was squeezing her so hard she felt like her ribs might break, and would not look at her despite Bella's repeated attempts to get her to.
"Hey, if you don't mind me asking Jasper… Why-When did you get back?"
Bella just caught her slip up, but knew with a grimace that everyone had heard. Vampires didn't miss things like that.
Without stopping or looking back, Jasper replied, "I just got back this morning."
Bella hummed something noncommittal, and they reached the door. Jasper pulled the door open and held it like a gentleman for everybody to walk inside.
As Bella and Alice made to walk past, the last ones in, he said, "As for the why I came back?"
They hesitated, and Bella tensed when she saw a peculiar gleam in his honey golden eyes. Jasper gave her another slight, half crooked grin. She stared back, and again the vampire within her bristled at him, disliking something there with a vengeance.
Finally, he spoke.
"Alice wanted me to."
Then he walked on into the house without bothering to hold the door for them.