"There's been a leech trying to get on the rez and we can't seem to get to her. She's very slippery and seems almost gleeful about it. We can't figure out what she wants. Whether it's a game to kill in the town because we're wolves or if it's something else. Didn't you say something about vampires having singers? Seth thought that maybe there was a tribe member who was this leech's singer…" I trailed off when I saw how shaky and pale Bella was and gave her my full attention. "Hey, hey hey!"
Picking her up in my arms, dinner forgotten, I carried her to the small cream love seat we had in the living room and sat her down on my lap. Her eyes were wide and her heart had taken off while her breaths came in hysterical pants. I didn't realize that talking about vampires would put her in this sort of state. We'd spoken about the Cullens a few times before, both in short and in depth after Paul had dug her out of her catatonic phase. It's been six months since that time and I can't recall her reacting this way.
The next words out of her mouth stilled my breaths and I felt my heart stutter in my chest.
Her voice was soft enough that even I had to strain to hear. "Her name is Victoria. Last spring when I 'ran away'?" She didn't pause long because she'd already told me the story about why she'd run away. "James had a mate. That's her."
Fuck.
"So she's after you?" I asked, already aware of the answer but my body wasn't as prepared. When she nodded, I had to force my Little Red from my lap, practically dumping her on the love seat and stood a good five feet away holding up a staying hand. Locking my limbs so that I could try to stave off the shift from man to beast, I clenched my fists so hard that my blunt nails pierced the palms. My breathing was labored and the tremors of the phase worked their way up and down my torso and out to my limbs like an electric shock from a bolt of lightning. The heat rolled off me in waves and growls fell from my lips with each exhale. I felt more than saw Bella stand and walk around to the other side of the kitchen.
That was good. She was further from me now. I knew if I unlocked my legs that I would phase so I analyzed the dimensions of the living room with a keen eye. I knew them by heart of course; the living room is twenty by fifteen and a half with an open concept into the kitchen so with Bella completely out of harm's way and me knowing that I needed to angle my body toward the front door so that there was no furniture in my wolf's way, I let my big black spirit wolf free.