Chapter 16
Listless eyes took in the vampire before her. Any panic or fear that she logically understood that she should be feeling was replaced by an artificial complacency. That scent. An aroma that drew her in, saturating her being with dulcet olfactory memories.
Humanity and self-preservation forgotten, Bella inhaled the rapture that numbed her senses. Numbed her inhibitions, her sense of reason. She lost herself completely in the bone-deep need for the source of that sweet, undeniable nectar.
Somewhere under the fog, Bella understood what she was feeling. She recognized the draw that Billy had called thrall. Even Edward had warned her. They were the perfect predator that drew in their prey with every sense. And she was only human.
But her thoughts didn't register Edward specifically or the missing Cullens. She wasn't drawn to their memory. Just the feeling of blissful surrender, a respite from her anxiety addled brain. This loss of control allowed the predator to draw her in easier than Laurent ever imagined. He mused to himself that she really was a vampire's pet, addicted and desperate for the power of thrall.
The porcelain beads at the end of each of his locs swayed and clinked with each step. The soft soundtrack only drew her in more. His ashy vampiric complexion ruined what once would have been rich milk chocolate skin. Bella idly wondered what he looked like before he was turned. The man was probably handsome, but this creature held the too-perfect ethereal beauty as was the trademark of his kind.
He wore simple clothes that probably needed a wash. A trench coat hung down to his knees, outlining strong, square shoulders. Her eyes tracked down his body, following the lines of the seams along his arms. Huh? Where did his hand go? Something about a missing hand sounded familiar, but the fog didn't allow her to make the proper connections.
His bare feet were muddy and Bella wondered where his shoes went. It didn't matter. The thought was gone as soon as it flitted through her mind.
She was forgetting something.
"Come with me, little pet."
The musical voice, tinted with his French accent, seemed to float across the air between them. Laurent spoke with such confidence that it confused her. She knew he must be here to avenge the fallen members of his coven. She remembered fiery red hair and a scary man. What was his name again? Oh, did he say something?
The creature that was once a man was beckoning her forward with his only hand. Why wouldn't she go with him? The words didn't register, comprehension was past her capabilities in this state. Something was wrong. Thinking was hard. Her feet encouraged her forward, but something even stronger was screaming in her head to stop. She hesitated just long enough that Laurent repeated the command.
He never had to say an order twice.
The wind shifted and a break in the clouds let the sun shine down. The blinding reflection of diamonds in the sun snapped Bella from her hypnosis with a gasp. This was no angel beckoning her with sweet promises and tingly numbness. This was a demon, lurring her back into a hell that she had clawed tooth and nail out of to survive after Edward left.
Bella let out an ear splitting scream with such force that she popped a blood vessel in her eye. Stumbling backwards, she tripped over her own feet in a reflex attempt to put distance between herself and her demons. Adrenaline coursing through her veins masked any pain she would have felt when she fell to the ground, hands splayed back to brace her fall.
Laurent was still frozen in place, looking at his remaining glittering hand like it had betrayed him. The ancient vampire wasn't a fighter. His gift made it so it never came to a physical altercation. He was not prepared for his words to fail him. The sun would give him away if another human saw him and his gift wouldn't save him from everything. Or everyone. Laurent was more afraid of the Volturi than a pack of wolves.
So he ran.
Bella's scream alerted the two shifters in the parking lot. Like a shot from a starter gun, they were out of the truck and running with curses on their breath. Bleach and the cloying sweetness of the enemy was all that Quil and Embry could smell once they left the truck and followed the scent into the alley at inhuman speeds. They didn't have to answer to the Volturi if they were seen and the Council would understand the need to protect an imprint. Paul wouldn't understand how she had been in danger in the first place. They would be eviscerated if a hair on her head was out of place.
All that was left of Laurent was a flash of glittering skin rounding the corner by the time they were standing over Bella in the alleyway.
No blood. He didn't attack her, but the sharp tang of pain and anxiety was still heavy in the air.
Steady heartbeat. Fast, but present.
That was the only reassurance Quil needed to leave Bella in Embry's care and take off after the leech. That monster was so close to her. He couldn't get away with this. She was his charge and he had failed. His pack brother had trusted Quil with his imprint and he had failed.
Quil made it two steps down the alley before Embry jerked him back with a firm grasp on his mate's wrist.
"Quil, no," he urged. "You know you can't get him alone. Bella is our priority. I'll phase and tell whoever is on patrol what happened and then call Jake or Leah."
At least someone was thinking straight. Quil was on a warpath and Bella was barely coming to her senses. Only a steady stream of mumbled "no's" floated past numb lips under vacant eyes. One of her hands was cradled to her chest while she slowly rocked back and forth to the pace of her chant.
Quil had her protectively cradled into his chest when Embry came running back from the wooded area behind the shops snapping his shorts back up, "No need to call an Alpha, they were both phased. Jake is on his way. Leah is dealing with something, they didn't say what." Glossing over the details was for Bella's sake. She didn't need more on her plate at the moment. Embry gave his mate a pointed look that said I'll tell you later. He knew that she would blame herself for the chaos currently erupting on the rez.
Nodding his understanding, Quil stood up with the shell shocked girl in his arms. Her head lolled back with the motion, hair falling in her face. Adjusting his grip to free a hand, Quil brushed the hair behind her ear to uncover uninhabited eyes and lax lips. He worried over the blood-red splotch staining the white of her left eye. She had stopped her mumbled "no's" and was just laying limp in his arms. Glassy eyed and uncaring of anything happening around her.
"Shit, Embry, she's high on vamp stank." They had all heard Billy's theories on Bella's reaction to vampire thrall. He compared it to a drug that she had been addicted to, but none of the pack really understood the effect vampires had on humans. To the wolves, the smell burned their nostrils and churned their stomachs. No human on the rez had contact with leeches and the Cullens had left before Bella got to know any of the boys apart from Jake.
"Honey, you're okay," Quil tried to comfort her. "He's gone now." His voice drew her gaze, but he was sure she didn't understand.
It only took Jake three and a half minutes to get to Bella. It would have been two if he didn't need to phase human and temper his speed to run the last half mile. Most of Forks wasn't directly accessible by routing just through the woods. Weird looks for running barefoot through the outskirts of town were better than Animal Control getting dispatched.
Before even greeting his pack brothers, Jake had Bella in his arms and his face pressed into her hair. Touch and scent. His pack mate and best friend was safe. Pulling back to take careful inventory of her face, he finally addressed the two other men in the alley, "We can't take her back to Charlie like this. She looks high as a fucking kite."
Quil ducked his head and his ears turned bright red at the mere mention of Charlie. His "dad" slip earlier was still fresh in his mind and he wasn't looking forward to facing the man again today. Thankfully, Embry had the Chief's schedule memorized to utilize every opportunity possible to sneak into his imprint's window.
"He's working a double today. He won't be back until after the night shift, but it's the weekend so he'll probably go straight to Billy's to go fishing in the morning."
Jake just raised his eyebrows, fully understanding why his packmate had Charlie's schedule memorized. They were in the clear to take Bella home and hopefully it would give Jake a little more time to figure out how they were going to tell Paul about this.
Embry pulled the truck around to the mouth of the alley to minimize the chance of someone calling the FBI when three hulking shirtless men loaded a lifeless girl into their car. Jake held Bella on his lap while he told the others what had happened as quietly as possible. Her human ears most likely wouldn't catch it, especially in this state, but he didn't want to take any chances.
Laurent had run close enough to the edge of the rez that his mere proximity had caused Brady and Collin to bust into fur in the middle of a game of one-on-one in the Fuller's backyard. Luck was on their side for once. The boys were alone and in the backyard of a council member that already knew about the wolves. Collin still had the remains of a basketball skewered into the claws of his front paw when Jake left them in Leah's care.
No one spoke while they each individually contemplated the events of the day. Two new wolves. A leech somehow got into Forks? How did it get past their radar? Jared was supposed to be wrapping up the last double shift of his punishment, but the older wolf was nowhere to be found. When Embry had phased to show Jake through the pack mind what had happened, all he could sense from his Alpha was rage. Where the fuck was Jared?
Breaking the silence Embry wondered, "How come every patient Carlisle saw or every student at Forks High wasn't like this every day those parasites were in town?"
"Yeah, we never heard anything about half of Forks acting like zombies every time a glittery fucker walked in a room," Quil grumbled.
Jake sighed, shaking his head in disgust of the way those leeches manipulated Bella. "Nobody else in Forks spent so much time around the Cullens. Every moment until those leeches left town, that creepy asshole was within five feet of her. He even watched her sleep."
"What the fuck?" the mated pair gasped at the same time. Shock evident in his voice, Embry asked, "Did she know?"
"Yeah," Jake said, just as weirded out as his pack brothers. "She wanted him around at all times. Now I get why." He pointedly looked down to the limp girl in his arms, still staring out into space. "She was so wrapped up in thrall, it physically hurt to be away from him."
"That is so fucked up. Talk about unhealthy relationships." Grateful for his soulmate, Quil squeezed his imprint's hand in his lap from where he was squished into the middle seat of the cab of the truck.
To nobody's surprise, Paul was waiting for them when they pulled the beast of a truck into the driveway of the Swan home. He had felt the stress of her encounter through their bond and phased immediately, barely making it out of the construction site. The pups had automatically repeated everything Embry had shown them when Paul's protective rage entered the pack mind.
Jake was not happy to see the snarling wolf pacing along the side of the Swan's house. Damn it, he was supposed to be at work right now. He was going to lose his job if he kept up the disappearing act. The second Jake stepped out of the truck holding Bella, Paul was human again and pulling her from his Alpha's hold.
Bella sunk into the embrace like his arms were the most comfortable place in the world. His precious cargo was the only thing preventing Paul from delivering justice right this moment. Threatening Quil would have to do until he could deliver his promise. He sneered through gritted teeth, glaring daggers at the person he had trusted with his mate. "I will kick your ass so hard that your vertebrae will pop out of your mouth one by one like a motherfucking pez dispenser." Paul turned on his heel and stomped into the house.
Jake knew Quil was well and truly put in place by the more dominant wolf when he didn't even crack a hint of his usual smile at Paul's creative and colorful threat. Embry was equally shrouded by the shame of letting Laurent get so close to an imprint that he didn't even growl at the threat to his mate. The pack bonds were really taking a hit today.
By nightfall the numbness had melted away into chills and cold sweats. Paul had taken her into the bathroom to run a damp cloth over her forehead. Calming words and begging petitions for her to snap out of it did nothing. Between each sweet sentiment Paul was offering increasingly violent and creative ways to exact vengeance on the vampire that had caused this. Paul promised she would never have to face a Cold One again if he had anything to say about it.
Quil, Embry, and Jake collectively cringed from the living room when they all heard Bella hurl moments later. This was the Bella that Jake remembered. He had spent months putting her back together piece by piece in his garage with warm sodas and hugs.
The boys tried to get her to eat while Paul tried his hardest to hold her so tightly that her skin actually fused with his own. Jake knew it would take a crowbar to get Paul away from Bella after today.
Predictably, Mr. Cameron called to let Paul know he didn't need to bother coming back to work.
He didn't care.
Bella was the only thing that mattered right now. Dealing with his newly unemployed status was a problem for future-Paul because right now, his attention was myopically focused on watching those beautiful, warm chocolate eyes for any sign of life. Her heartbeat was slow but steady. Her breaths were even. Still the occasional "no" passed her lips, but none of the wolves knew what she was protesting.
Jake had found a wrist brace in Bella's extensive first aid collection. They had determined it was pretty badly broken, but they couldn't exactly bring her into an emergency room like this. There were more questions than they would have answers and it would have to wait. Her wrist was now forgotten, lying limp in her lap. She no longer smelled like adrenaline and pain, calming Paul's wolf down considerably. Thank the spirits that the asshole hadn't actually touched her so the vague smell of leech was long gone.
Without knowing how else to help her, they decided their best course of action was to just wait.
Jake phased in the backyard to check in on the pups and his other half. Leah said she was fine and didn't need him. The faintest longing clung to her thoughts despite her words. She missed him.
God, Jake loved that she missed him.
He phased back before an unusually powerful thought broke through his mental walls into the pack mind. He wasn't ready to tell her. It was too soon, right?
But a part of him already knew that she loved him too.
"Collin and Brady are fine," Jake spoke, stepping back into the house with his shorts half done up. "How's Bells?"
Paul wrestled back his automatic sarcastic response, instead speaking directly to his mate with all the gentleness he could muster. "It's been months since we burned the shit Cullen had left behind. She hasn't had an encounter with their scent for a long time." A finger traced delicately down the side of her face, his last words merely a pained whisper, "No wonder the power of that fucker's thrall affected you so badly."
Soaking up the warmth from her place on Paul's lap, Bella took her time slowly putting the pieces together. Awareness faded in gradually, drawing strength from her mate.
Laurent was back. Laurent came for her when Victoria failed. She had been taken down by the pack, but Bella hadn't heard anything about Laurent coming around too.
This is what they had been keeping from her. This was the lie they had all been dancing around. She knew something was fishy, but she trusted them. She trusted her best friend and her mate to keep her safe and informed. But the hand Jake has locked in a gun safe in his garage belongs to Laurent. Who was here to kill her.
At the moment Bella didn't have the mental capacity to be angry or hurt by the betrayal. She had been lied to and manipulated by those closest to her. This was why the pack was essentially stalking her. They had even moved Quil into her house to keep a closer eye on her. She was a burden to their already daunting task of protecting all human life. She had brought even more strife to the pack and she didn't even know. She had just been starting to recover from the horrible guilt of hurting Paul with her rejection, but here she was hurting the whole pack just by existing.
Each thought passed through her mind with a clinical analysis that was habitual to her neurotic mind, but completely void of the attached emotions. She wasn't hurt, or mad or… anything.
Even the pain radiating from her wrist was an afterthought. It was definitely broken, but she just didn't care. Just another thought floating through her mind. Swimming around her brain. "No" was the only word she knew how to say and she wasn't sure what exactly she was protesting. Life? The past haunting her? Everything?
Her brain felt like an Alice in Wonderland themed trippy nightmare. Thoughts were sluggish, but she was starting to make connections. Coherent thoughts. She recognized the familiar sensations of numb existence, but this time without the heartbreak that had been associated with Edward. She sneered the name in her mind.
Edward.
The accompanying anger brought just a dash of clarity through the fog in her mind. Bella realized why she felt so shitty when that douchey asshole had left her. Thrall had left her in a state of perpetual escape. She hadn't been living in reality. During her time with him she was on Planet Mush Brain, Population: 1.
Being abandoned on the cold forest floor was traumatizing, yes, but having to wake up the next morning in Forks, Washington to her very normal human existence was a culture shock that her brain just couldn't process. The entire time that Edward had been her ever-present icy shadow, she was being dosed with fairy tales and magical promises. This time she knew what was happening and understood the trance she was waking up from. Last time it took her three months and a whole lot of Jacob's bone-crushing bear hugs to snap her out of it. Oh hell no, was she going to let one of those disco ball motherfuckers play tricks with her mind again.
That motivation was the last push Bella needed to weakly break out of Paul's grasp and stand firm on her own. Standing firm was more metaphorical than she would have liked. Her legs were wobbly on faltering feet and her muscles ached all over. Bella squeezed her eyes shut for a minute before shaking her head as if to shake off the mental cobwebs. She squared her shoulders and demanded in the strongest voice she could muster, "How the hell did that leech get into Forks?"
Quil let out a very lupine whine from his place in Embry's arms. The guilt was eating him alive. They should have been paying attention. They should have been with her. Embry handed Bella a cup of tea that she took robotically with her good hand. He was just trying to care for her the only way he knew how.
Now that the silence had been broken, Paul decided he had waited long enough to speak up.
"And where the hell were you two?!" Paul demanded. Bella flinched at his rough tone before coming to the defense of who she now realized were her bodyguards.
"No, I told them to stay in the car. If I had known a vampire was after me, maybe I would have been more careful!" Bella screamed at Jake. He was the Alpha. He was her best friend. He should have told her.
And Paul.
Wasn't he supposed to not be able to lie to her? She turned to face him once again. Every purposeful exhale drawing the thrall from her body and the cloudiness from her mind. Every inhale fortified her resolve and fanned the flames of her anger.
"You know how much I hate feeling helpless, Paul."
She took a step back towards him, swaying a little on unsteady legs. Paul instinctively reached a steadying hand towards her. Hurt flashed in his eyes when she jerked away from him, sloshing tea out of the mug she forgot she was even holding.
"I'm fine." She reassured him in a clipped tone. Her eyes plead for his understanding. Bella knew his concern came from a place of love, but being coddled wasn't what she needed right now. She needed to be the strong self-assured woman she built herself up to be after Edward had left her. Paul deserved the recognition as her protector, but now she understood that he didn't need to be cast aside just so she could stand up on her own. They were partners and they were going to face this together. She straightened to her full height, barely taller than him where he was still seated on the couch.
"I don't want to be out of the loop anymore. Those leeches have taken enough away from me." She reflexively rolled the wrist with James' bite mark, wincing at the shooting pain from the movement. She looked down, noticing the brace for the first time since waking up from her trance.
"What the fuck is this?!" Bella held up her wrapped hand, looking between the boys for an answer. Paul just looked confused while Quil and Embry looked to their Alpha for a clue on how to handle the latest whiplash turn of this conversation.
"Umm, Bells," Jake started, seeing that his pack brothers were leaving this one to him. "You fell back or something and landed on it wrong. It looks broken." Jake didn't bother mentioning the blood vessel that had burst in her eye because it curiously was already gone. Had it healed that quickly?
"I'm going to kill that bastard!" Bella slammed the cup of tea to the ground in an uncharacteristic bout of anger. The destructive pleasure only riled Bella up further, egging her on.
Paul flinched at the crash of ceramic against the hardwood floor of the living room. Hair trigger anger and exaggerated emotional responses were normal after a relapse. This was familiar territory for Paul. Once again he wondered if the Spirits knew what they were doing when they gave this imprint to the only wolf who would understand relapse and withdrawal. As much as he wished he didn't have personal experience with this uglier side of life, he was grateful for his mother for the first time.
Instead of arguing with her or trying to calm her down, Paul simply handed her another mug.
Collin and Brady were only thirteen years old. They were too young to phase. If their smaller size wasn't evidence enough, their maturity certainly made it clear. Brady was chasing his tail and Collin was seeing how far he could stand up and walk on his hind legs like a person.
For once Leah was glad for Sam's presence. He usually didn't like being around either of the new Alphas for a multitude of reasons, but today he was glad to be useful. Sam had watched every new wolf adjust to the transformation, so Leah had asked for his help with the new pups. Just the presence of two dominant wolves gave the young ones a sense of security in their vulnerable nubile state. Leah nipped their sides and nudged them with her muzzle as they jumped and ran around her like a true pack mama. Once they got to know her, they'd appreciate how rare this caring and maternal side of her showed through her tough exterior. Sam loved seeing the Lee-Lee he remembered once again, but he'd never dare let that endearment slip into the pack mind. The looming ebony wolf sat on his haunches and silently watched the puppies play around and get adjusted to their new form. Once they weren't tripping over their paws, Sam was going to lead them on a patrol loop of the border.
The first Alpha made a mental syllabus for Wolfpack 101. Maybe he should really write a handbook? Leah caught his train of thought and hoped dearly that there wouldn't be enough new wolves to require a mass produced field guide. Ten seemed like more than enough. Leah didn't want to deal with a bigger litter.
Collin did not like all of the puppy references. Are young wolves even called pups? You know how some animals have weird names for their babies like how a baby fish is called a fingerling or a baby fox is called a kit?
Laughing at his pack brother, Brady teased. Why do you even know that? You're so gay, Collin.
HEY! Leah cut them off, whipping around to nip Brady's flank in a bruising reprimand. I will not tolerate ignorance and bigotry in my pack.
A mental montage from both Sam and Leah filled the pack mind. Quil getting kicked out of his childhood home, Embry getting called homophobic slurs in the grocery store, the memory of when they first imprinted, the defeated longing in the couple's stares as everyone around them got to freely express their love without judgement.
I.. I didn't mean it like that, Brady apologized, it's just something we say. The small dark grey wolf was lowered as far to the ground as he physically could be, instinctually submitting to Leah's anger. Collin's brown and tan patched wolf was frozen in place with his ears pinned back in fear. He wasn't even the one being scolded, but his spirit wolf knew to show deference to the powerful Alpha female.
Well don't say it. I don't want to hear that shit again.
Being new to the concept of sharing minds, Brady revealed more than he wanted to. The thought wasn't clearly formed into words but the sentiment was clear to even Seth who was silently patrolling in the background of the pack mind. How can I be a bigot if I kinda like boys too?
You WHAT? Collin gasped internally. Thankfully it wasn't a reaction of disgust or anger like Brady feared, just hurt that he hadn't told his best friend. Brady quickly defended his secret, saying that he wasn't gay, just curious. Leah mentally applauded the younger generations' acceptance of each other. Old Quil could learn a lesson or two from these guys.
At least you two didn't imprint on each other. I couldn't imagine having another pair of love sick puppies fawning all over each other after listening to Quil and Embry.
Both Brady and Collin dramatically gagged at the idea of being a couple.
Ok, maybe I don't like boys. Brady joked just to get a rise out of the other wolf.
Taking the bait, Collin tackled his best friend and the pair rolled into the underbrush. Shut up, I'm totally hot, you dick!
Leah and Sam sat back like proud parents, tuning out the pups' jeers and letting them duke it out on their own. Play fighting was a normal pastime for all of the pack members. It was natural for the wolves and Leah was glad they were getting used to their new bodies and instincts.
Sam reflected on his first days as a wolf. They weren't carefree moments under the watch of a protective Alpha. They were a living nightmare. Weeks alone in the forest, hungry and weak. Packless. Hopeless. He had convinced himself he had gone insane and was forever stuck as a wolf. He eventually phased back in his sleep, convinced it was all a horrific dream. Old Quil had put the pieces together and explained the legends when Sam wandered back into town. He had been so worried about Leah. And he came back only to break her heart repeatedly. First with lies and then with an imprint.
I forgive you.
Fuck, he had thought that out loud. Fuck! How did his life get so confusing that that made sense?!
Leah repeated, saturating her thoughts with sincerity.
I forgive you, Sam.
For the first time, he believed her. A weight was lifted off of his chest and relief flooded his mind. The burden of Leah's heartbreak on top of everything else had been so much for the first Alpha to bear.
Thank you, Leah.
She took a leaping step further into the trees and stepped back out on two feet, a loose cotton dress hanging from her shoulders. Sam's relief was too hard for her to feel.
"Go take the pups for a run," Leah waved the black wolf towards the still wrestling wolves. "We'll get the pack together for a meeting soon."
When Sam hesitated she repeated, "Go."
Leah had excellent control of her mind when phased with other wolves. As a natural Alpha, it had been effortless since day one to speak to the other wolves with the ability to choose her words carefully as if she was speaking them out loud. Her pack members didn't have the same luxury of privacy. The translucency of her brothers was helpful to understand them best. Knowing the thought and motivation behind someone's actions gives a crystal clear picture of your soldiers. She knew how to best utilize their strengths and weaknesses and she better understood them as men. Well, boys.
But feeling the emotions of now nine other people? It could be too much.
She relished the peace of having no other voices in her head. Unless you counted her wolf, but she didn't exactly talk to Leah. She thought of her inner wolf as the spirit of Kaliso. This spirit is what she attributed her lupine tendencies to. The pull in her gut that told her that Jake was in Forks right now. That was Kaliso. The constant vigilance of taking in her surroundings and processing for threats. That was Kaliso. The crushing responsibility of the needs and wants of all of her pack members?
That was all Leah Clearwater.
Nine lives were in her hands. Jake was her equal, but she still felt protective of him as her mate. If you included the imprints, that was three more lives that Leah was bound to.
For the millionth time, Leah was grateful she was not an imprint or an imprinted wolf. Jake was her mate through their Alpha bond thingy, but she wouldn't throw herself over a cliff if it made him happy. All of the imprinted wolves had no control when it came to their mates. Sam was the biggest pussy of them all when it came to Emily. She controlled Sam like a giant marionette.
Wow, Leah mused to herself, he used to carry the authority of the Alpha command. What if Emily was a secret, evil double agent and she made Sam order the wolves to march right into the arms of an evil coven of vampires that she was consorting with? Leah laughed out loud at the thought of Emily's maniacal laughter, rubbing her hands together as her scheme played out perfectly.
As her laugh echoed into the empty forest around her, she realized just how crazy she looked laughing all alone in the trees. She quickly sobered when she remembered the potential problem she had shoved to the back burner. In reality there might be an imprint who just might have the ability to give orders. Bella.
Bella wasn't a scheming evil mastermind, Leah had to remind herself. The little devil on her shoulder piped up. But she was the vampire lover. Paul's latest unnecessarily detailed mental imagery flashed through Leah's mind and she didn't need to question that Bella was certainly loving on a wolf now. The Cullen's weren't even in town anymore and it didn't seem like the girl still held any kindness for the coven that had just left her to freeze to death in the middle of the forest. A little harsh, even for heartless monsters.
Leah continued to wander through the trees aimlessly while she focused. She always did her best thinking while alone in nature.
If Bella really had inherited Paul's beta status with the mark… That would make Bella the fourth in command in the pack. What came after Beta? Would that be Delta? Gamma? Whatever. Leah thought back to everything Embry had shown them. He had said, "She told us to stay in the car and it took her screaming for us to snap out of it". Maybe the wind was blowing the leech smell the wrong way and if the windows were shut? No. Embry had seemed seriously freaked like he knew something was off about it. That was potentially dangerous. Especially if she didn't know.
Bella's orders would be just as powerful and effective as Paul's. It wasn't the same overriding compulsion that came with an Alpha order, but it would still take considerable strength to break. Especially a brand new wolf like Brady or Collin.
Leah was surprised by the protective affection she felt towards the two new puppies. They were pack and she would protect the little losers. This maternal side of her had been buried deep in her psyche, or maybe just neglected. Usually Seth was the only person she cared to look out for, but now she had so many people relying on her. And Jacob. They were in this together.
Paul was now part of her support system and she could delegate some responsibility to their Beta. Thank the spirits that Jared was such a weak wolf that when he was Sam's Beta, his command didn't mean shit.
Jared was the next problem she needed to tackle. Jake was handling Bella, Laurent was gone for now, leaving Jared's missing furry butt as the only loose thread. He was supposed to be on patrol when Laurent showed up, so where was he? They had extended their routes to cover the area between Forks and La Push so whoever was on patrol should have seen the evil leech try to sneak into town. Seth had patrol covered for now, and Sam had the pups running the borders too. They would let her know if the leech tried to come back, so she had time to do some fact finding. She wanted to be sure before she relieved Jared of his balls when she found him.
The demo crew had moved to the kitchen to find more ammunition. The linoleum in the Swan's kitchen was littered with shattered plates and mugs. Paul knew that Bella and Charlie weren't particularly attached to their dinnerware set and he knew from experience that plates were easier一and less depressing一to clean up than picture frames.
At one point screaming had moved on to sobbing, but the anger had made its way back around. This time instead of hiding from Bella, confused and a little scared, Embry and Quil were happily handing her things to break and encouraging her to let out some steam.
"WHAT WAS HE DOING IN HIGH SCHOOL? WHO LIVES FOREVER AND DECIDES TO GO TO HIGH SCHOOL FIFTY TIMES?" She took a few huffing breaths before continuing at a lower volume. "That's a whole new level of masochism. Hanging out with your singer 24/7 and living with that torture is one thing but HIGH SCHOOL?!"
Bella's ranting was mostly focused on Edward, not the vampire that actually induced this particular bout of thrall. It was Edward afterall who gave her this exaggerated reaction.
"If he wasn't some sort of mythological nightmare creature I would have had Charlie arrest him! Who the fuck does he think he is sneaking around in my room at night?!" Her hands flailed about wildly, gesticulating with no correlation to the words coming out of her mouth.
Paul just sat back and watched the show. Bella needed this. Jake was watching from the edge of the kitchen, worried that Bella was going to hurt herself more than anything else. Quil and Embry had actually made a bag of popcorn and were scoring each piece of broken ceramic on a scale of 1- 10. Before today, they had a hard time believing Paul when he told them the story of tiny, harmless Bella calling the leech "Twatward McSparkleNuts." After seeing this side of Bella, it wasn't hard to believe anymore.
Quil leaned over from where he was perched on the counter to ask Embry, "I wonder why she didn't have such exaggerated highs and lows the whole time this scent was in her room?" Embry turned to grab the bag of popcorn, scrunching his nose in thought before answering.
"Maybe because it was an old scent it affected her differently? This was a fresh vamp right in her face," Embry suggested, shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth.
Bella whipped around, throwing a mug with impressive might directly between the boys' heads, where it crashed into shards on the cabinet behind them.
"Are you two really trying to apply logic to all of this supernatural, hocus pocus, magical, fairytale bullshit?!" She shrieked.
"What were you aiming for?!" Jake asked in horror from across the room, ready to hide behind the door frame to the living room if her crosshairs came his way. Quil complained that there were tiny ceramic bits in his snack and Embry was pretending to be offended because hey — they all were part of that whole supernatural, hocus pocus, magical, fairytale bullshit.
Her rant continued as another plate met it's violent end, "He was over a hundred years old! Just because he looked young doesn't mean he wasn't some old creepy pervert sneaking around and essentially drugging an underage girl! I was only seventeen when we met! He's a pedophile!" She stomped her foot and repeated a full octave higher, "A PEDOPHILE!"
Paul couldn't help his bark of laughter. Bella wheeled around to face him with fire in her eyes. For a split second he was actually afraid of her.
"And you!" Oh no.
"You love me so much!" The tone of her voice still suggested she was angry and Paul wasn't sure where this was going. Whatever she saw in his face flipped a switch because the next second she was crying again, flinging herself into his arms.
"I don't deserve you, Paul!" The words were hard to understand between the shuddering sobs. "I don't deserve any of you! You're all working so hard to keep me safe and I didn't even know. You patrol and protect your people and nobody thanks you. Nobody even knows you're out there. It's not fair." She turned to Quil and Embry before continuing, "And your imprint must be so hard, having Quil be all the way out here in Forks. Thank you!"
Bella dropped her latest ceramic victim without a thought and flung herself at the couple. Paul deftly caught the plate an inch from the floor and growled at the wolves touching his mate. She ignored Paul and wrapped one arm around each of their waists. The boys were not sure what to do with the hysterical woman. Afraid to touch Paul's imprint anymore than necessary, Embry patted her back and Quil awkwardly patted the top of her head where it was buried between their chests. Paul was glad to see she was being careful of her injured hand while she held the boys in a giant hug.
Quil spoke up first, realizing she wasn't letting them go any time soon, "Don't worry about it Bells, this has actually been great for our imprint, but this wasn't about us. We were supposed to protect you. I was supposed to protect you. And I failed. That.. that leech was so close."
Paul cut in, "It'll never happen again. Now that I have.." he cleared his throat, not ready to tell Bella that he lost his job. "Now that I have more free time, I can be with you. I can protect you."
"I can move out. I'll crash somewhere else," Quil stammered, now running a comforting hand over Bella's hair. "Paul will be able to protect you better anyway. I don't need to be here."
"No!" Her voice was firm as she pulled back and craned her neck to look directly at Quil in the eye. "You're staying."
"Bells," Quil tried to deflect. "You don't need me here anymore."
"You're not staying as my bodyguard, Quil." She took his hand with her good one and looked back and forth between him and Embry. "You're staying because you're family."
This time Quil instigated the hug, burying his face in her hair to hide the tears welling in his eyes. Ever since being kicked out, he hadn't felt like he really belonged anywhere.
The Hallmark moment didn't last. Shakira blared from Jake's pocket in a muffled voice but loud enough for the lyrics to be clearly heard. Much to the amusement of everyone in the room.
"There's a she-wolf in the closet,
Open up and set her free."
Jake scrambled to answer the phone, his ears redder than Bella had ever seen. Quil and Embry were rolling on the floor laughing like the couple of dogs they were. Paul just had a smirk pulling up half of his beautiful features and Bella had an idea of who had changed the ringtone.
Finally having wrestled the offending device from his shorts, Jake answered the phone in a comically breathless voice.
"Yes?"
"Well hello to you, too, sweetheart."
Paul laughed at Leah's usual biting tone. Bella quircked an eyebrow in question, being the only one in the room who couldn't hear both sides of the conversation.
"Leah," Paul whispered into her ear, pulling her thankfully calmer self into his arms and sinking back into a chair. Bella laughed, finally getting the ringtone, and made herself at home across Paul's lap.
"Sure, Sure, but we have to get Bells to Forks General first. Her wrist is broken."
The wolves in the room heard Leah make sure Paul was handling all this well and then confirm with Jake that they were all expected back at Sam's to debrief as soon as they were done at the hospital. Jake's deferential "yes ma'am" brought the first smile to Bella's lips all afternoon.
Revised 10/15/2020